harz99

1 hour ago, gold1953 said:

I never pay the price for anything included so the perks are perfect

Great but, a) that doesn't answer the question, and B) the option to book in the UK without AI wasn't available previously on our last X cruise!

29 minutes ago, gold1953 said:

just log on and off when ever you want . We make ours last 2 weeks allowing us a few minutes daily each. Be care to always log out  . Open email  , log out and then it is still all there to read and you can log in again after you type your replies to send. So easy to stretch it out!

Thanks, couldn't remember as last couple of X cruises have been AI so didn't need the net perk👍

Can someone kind person please remind me if the internet minutes can only be used as one continuous block, or is it possible to log on/off over several days just to check emails/socials etc.?

1 hour ago, Savblanc1 said:

There is one this year leaving Southampton in November on the Virtuosa doing a Southern Transatlantic. Am hoping for the same in 2025 

I guess we'll both have to wait...

On 1/27/2024 at 1:53 PM, Savblanc1 said:

Hi

 

Does anyone know when the dates for the translantic will be released for sale.  Am looking for November 2025 from Southampton (assuming they will have one, most probs on the (Virtuosa?)

 

Many thanks

Is there one, the UK allocated ship always used to reposition back to Genoa? I've been looking for a repo from the US back to UK/EU that same month and it seems that it'll be sometime in July/August before those itineraries are released. 

30 minutes ago, zap99 said:

So not an exaggeration at all. 🤔

No exaggeration at all, we're 60+ cruises all over the world, multiple bumpy trips across Bay of Biscay and around Cape Horn and have never experienced quite such rough seas and high winds as that night. The ship had a pronounced list due to the side on wind, water getting in in many areas particularly from the prominade doors along deck 7, and a very bumpy ride over the troughs in the waves. Our cabin was on deck 8 forward and we spent most of the night awake and holding on to the beds because sleep was impossible. I imagine very few crew members slept that night, and they all had to work again as usual the following day.

That ship is as tough as they come, despite her age she handle the violent storm and motion well!

7 minutes ago, ValerieJo said:

I don't really see a difference.  What am I missing?   Royal Caribbean announces new photo perk for its loyalty program members | Royal Caribbean Blog

Not a thing , some sort of twisted marketing hype! Maybe so few people take them up on the offer they think they can con us into thinking we're getting something new...

@villauk@villauk,@villauk@villauk, i just had a sale email from BA, so just out of interest i looked again at their flights LHR to ATH for my dates, almost £490 each return!!!

Certainly won't be me!

9 minutes ago, villauk said:

 

Yes, I looked at April and couldn’t get the flights at £199, so went for March instead! Some TAs obviously got in first for group bookings as they are advertising complete packages from £700, including flights, luggage, transfers, 11-night cruises and $300 OBC!

My 75th birthday falls mid cruise which is really why we're going. I was looking at ex SOU with P&O or MSC for that time, but would've been shorter, no E+ perks and a lot cooler for near same money in total. X won this time!

2 minutes ago, villauk said:

X are offering some flights at £49pp now (mainly Gatwick I think). They were £199 with them last week, so they have obviously got group bookings with the likes of EasyJet for certain sailing dates  (£199 was cheaper than going directly with EasyJet last week on certain flight routes).

X quoted me over £800 for EJ flights! Two people, with luggage of 2x 23kg cases LGW 0635, return ex ATH 1210. Did my own booking same flights for £728...all the dates for the April cruises are similar or worse, and there are still plenty of seats free on those flights.

Just now, villauk said:

 

Yes, I’m presuming that most of those sailings will be full of Brits after the prices offered on those cruises over here.

As a result flights to Athens are going through the roof with Easyjet and BA though....

As far as i can see the only genuine sale deals are on the ship which was to do the Israel ports in 2024, i jumped on a 10 night sailing from Piraeus in April for an OV on deck 3 midships at a little over £600 person cruise only with 300usd OBC which pays most of the grats. Being Elite+ status we have no need of any all inclusive (not) bits

19 minutes ago, kguerriero said:

Might be a dumb question, but outside of room service, are there any food options onboard the ships (specifically thinking M-class) open after 10PM? 

Princess had the "International Cafe" (What I would think is an equivalent to El Bacio?) open 24 hours, and while it wasn't much, in addition to pastries they did offer a small selection of paninis and salads in a case available for free at any time. It was a nice late snack, and if Celebrity was able to do something similar, that may take some of the pressure off OVC at dinnertime and later.

There is a "Late night snacks" offering in Ocean View from around 10/11pm, a few bits of cold cuts, salad and staleish breads, with some pre - made rolls which looked to be lacking in the filling department, and slices of pizza. I ended up making my own sandwich from whatever was available as despite asking/pleading and messaging the Restaurant Manager they couldn't/wouldn't consistently provide a dairy free option (cheese with everything).

8 minutes ago, bnurick said:

Just boarded the Edge. The buffet was packed and every station was hopping. Literally had everything I’ve ever seen on their buffet.

 

Did notice TWO types of paella, chicken and a seafood. Looked amazing.

 

2,700 booked with capacity of 3,000. 90%.

So if you've just boarded, would that be the lunch buffet you're talking about, or the first evening buffet?

37 minutes ago, anniegb said:

On my last Celebrity cruise pre-covid, they couldn't cook even a simple dal well and that is not hard.  On a Millie cruise, they served 'pakora' in OVC - awful.

I find the Dal is too watery for me, not helped by the staff adding random splashes of water when the pan starts to dry out on the warm plate...

13 minutes ago, anniegb said:

Maybe a different brand but generally of a similar standard.  I prefer Branston myself.

By far the best baked beans!

37 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

We have done the OVC for dinner on occasions where we came back late or after long hot shore tours and not wanting to get dressed up in more than shorts for Luminae. I always enjoyed the Asian or the India food stations for a nice change of pace.

Oh well, on current reports you won't be enjoying those food options at Ocean View in the evening again...

1 hour ago, weregoingcruising said:

Suite Suite Suite Luminae Luminae Luminae   I'm beginning to see a pattern in  posts.

I do wonder how many of the people entitled to dine in Luminae, ever go into the Ocean View Cafe of an evening...

6 minutes ago, iandjm said:

Sounds worryingly similar. The MDR food and service was awful compared to the normal Celebrity service. And what the heck were the two waiters going round signing and playing guitars at the tables. It was so downmarket. The restaurant management didn’t want to engage with any diners and the waiters seemed to be on their first cruise pre trained. 
and that’s before the cutbacks! 

Lol, we had an MDR waiter who kept mumbling to himself and was a tad slow serving for first 2 nights, then he went sick, and we lucked out with a lad from Qsine next night, then an absolutely top notch lass from Bali until the final evening when the mumbler was back. Food was so so at times but we didn't starve...as to MDR  Restaurant Management, I've noticed that the last few years very few of them seem willing to get hands on or interact with diners, and also the Maitre D in charge of Tuscan/Murano whom we encounteted during the Elite breakfasts had a really poor attitude.

23 minutes ago, iandjm said:

We were on that cruise too. It was a bit grim eh 😩

It didn't start well for us...despite doing all the online bits and printing out boarding passes, they didn't work with the tablet holding girls, so we waited while that was sorted manually, got our cards and embarked only to find we couldn't access our booked deck 3 OV cabin as the area was locked off, Qing at guest services to sort this out then i noticed the cabin number on our keycards had changed! Turns out that for several cruises they'd been using the section where we should have been as quarantine cabins, fair enough but i shouldn't be finding that out at embarkation, nor should i be finding out that the replacement was an INSIDE on deck 10 - we booked on 3 for a reason, everything we want during the cruise is on 3/4/5, except for the Sky Lounge🙄, and Ocean View Cafe for port day lunch. 

An hour later the matter was sorted, we were given a deck 3 OV about 4 doors up from the sectioned of bit, you can imagine my thoughts on why they didn't just reallocate us to that one anyway...

Anyway, so many other service related matters were simply not up to previous standards that it'd just be too negative to go through them all...

We are 2 long term non suite Celebrity cruisers at E-plus loyalty level, quite frankly with all the cutbacks and changes we no longer feel valued in any way by Celebrity, the product is not deserving of the price being asked in any way shape or form, having taken a Canaries cruise on Silhouette last October to use up our FCCs from covid cancellations, i cannot see us ever taking another cruise on this line. Of course there will be plenty of newbies to take our place - they (X) hope!

16 minutes ago, D C said:

The Infinity in late November was NOT self service. 

Thanks, maybe it is only the S class ships as the Tuscan on them has that big non carpeted entrance area for the buffet stations, misinformation from the Maitre D...🙄

1 hour ago, Britboys said:

My embarkation last Sunday was fine. I arrived in the area an hour early so parked up at the nearby McDonalds and went in for coffee. Consequently I arrived on time to embark and joined a short queue. Documents checked (vaccination certificate and Covid Negative confirmation), straight through security and then another short queue to the check-in desk. That took a few minutes and then straight on to the ship. All in all, on board about 30 minutes after entering the car park.

the problem with the Festive Events appears to be that there isn't sufficient time between the lunch event guests finishing up and leaving, and the evening guests on first dinner arriving for alloted check in at 1540/1600, so everyone is held up and delays built up with the result that diners for the 1800 sitting were still turning up at 1820, and so on. The second sitting was pushed back 30 minutes to 2030 as a direct consequence.

1 hour ago, Britboys said:

Hopefully you have some travel insurance to claim on?

no use as only one night, most UK travel insurance only covers you for stays of two night's or longer.

 In the event we managed to find a way of getting there involving a 75 minute bus journey to get to Durham and trains from there to London and on to Tilbury Town and anothet short bus ride to the ship.

Have to say the experiences at the check in and onboard left us slightly underwhelmed though, and Tilbury is not a place I'd consider sailing from in future either.