2theship

On S Class ships, there have been happy hour 2 for 1 deals at the Passport Bar on Deck 3 in the early evening. Very crowded, lots of fun. I have no idea if they're still happening.

I was on the Century in early March and was very concerned about her condition. I was pleasantly surprised that she looked as good as she did. She has a wonderful elegant vibe that you don't fine on the older ship. Our cabin was fine. The only place I saw any wear was when we were walking the track on the deck above the pool but it wasn't significant. The experience made me nostalgic for the Century class ships.

I echo the comments about both romeinlimo and romecabs. Both do an exceptional job. If they pick you up at the ship, take you into Rome then drop you at your hotel, you will make the most of your day. Initially, there may be some sticker shock but you need to consider the value you are getting for your investment. Would you rather spend time dealing with getting luggage with you from place to place and waiting on trains or do you want a relaxed day, seeing the sights of your choice?

As someone mentioned, you might want to consider a hotel close to the airport so you don't have to worry about that in the morning. Again, it might cost more to have a driver with you for that long but you'll save the expense and bother of getting from Central Rome to the airport in the morning.

You should do some research and decide what you want to do in Rome. Either of the companies mentioned will provide you with an excellent driver for the day. However, they are not guides, they can't go into the sights with you. A good one will give you information and get you as close as possible to the location.

As Larry says, reseach is important to decide what is best for you. We often work with a combination of excursions - a ship tour here, a small group tour there and a simple self-guided walking tour in another port.

Roll calls are a great source for information about each port - very often someone has been there before or already done some in-depth research. We often participate in small group tours arranged by other roll call members, preferably the ones of no more than a dozen people. Any bigger than that and you might as well be on a ship's bus.

I just did it on Friday. We were in an AQ1 on the Summit. Doing a routine search, I discovered that one of the coveted aft AQ1 cabins was available. I called my TA and half an hour later I had a new booking confirmation with the new cabin number. The price was the same and we kept our free beverage package.

The safest choice is a Celebrity tour that takes you to the airport. Your luggage will be on the bus with you and they'll get you to the airport on time. The San Juan airport is NOT an easy one to manage. All of your luggage has to be screened by the USDA before you can check it and the security lines can get quite long.

You'll need a lot of taxis considering that there are 18 of you with cruise luggage (unless Celebrity offers a luggage valet service from San Juan, because that would take everything directly to the airline for you) so it might not be much more expensive to book a Celebrity tour.

The Bacardi tour would not be very boring for kids. There's a tram ride to start with followed by lots of colorful historical info in their museum. Only then does the tram take you back to the area for free tastings - and there's really not that much booze that flows. The adults can have a sip and the kids can enjoy the pretty area. I'm sure they have kid's beverages as well.

I was Googling to find the info about the luggage storage we've used in Piazzale Roma in Venice. Instead, I came across this which has every luggage storage option in the city:

http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/articles/venice-left-luggage.htm

Does any major cruise line do the Panama Canal in summer? All I've seen on Celebrity are dates in the spring and fall. The heat was awful last April, I can't imagine what it would be like in July.

It all boils down to research. There is no sure answer. Sometimes you can get better flight deals on your own. As we are learning, often, Princess offers the better price for air fare. Check both.

If you stay in London pre-cruise, you have the option of booking a Princess transfer to Southampton or taking the train or finding others to share a car. If you join your roll call, you may get some good ideas. London is 1-1/2 to 2 hours from Southampton so there are no free transfers. If you plan to stay in Southampton, you should have an inexpensive taxi ride to the ship. Of course, you'll have to get from a London airport to Southampton . . .

It took us 15 years to reach Elite on Celebrity. Once we did, we accumulated enough points that we're getting close to Elite Plus.

While we have never been upgraded to a special Captain's Club status on Celebrity, it has happened to us on Princess. We were upgraded to Platinum and while that did not mean free drinks, it gave us a big bunch of free internet minutes as well as access to the evening reception. I told DH that our next cruise had to be on Princess so we could reach Platinum status on our own. I was a real incentive to book Princess again.

We are big fans of Aqua Class and are booked in AQ on the Summit this fall. We've sailed in AQ on both Solstice Class and Millennium Class, like the Summit.

The Solstice Class AQ experience is, in my opinion, a little better but there's still plenty to be said for it on M-Class ships. As someone mentioned, the cabins on Deck 11 are preferable (and a little more expensive). Even at that, while the inside of the cabins is better on Deck 11, the balconies have very little overhead cover so if shade is important, you might consider a cabin on Deck 9.

Blu is wonderful. In theory, it's lighter fare but that's mostly because there are no heavy sauces, Blu uses reductions instead. I actually like the M-Class Blu a little better - they carved out space for it from the top level of the Main Dining Room and I think it made the service a little easier, especially with any requested variations from the standard Blu menu. The best thing about the food in Blu is that it is made to order so it's easy to play mix and match with menu items. Breakfast in Blu is fantastic!

While I love the Persian Gardens on the S-Class ships, it's a little disappointing on M-Class ships. It's interior and dark and while there are heated tile benches, they don't have the wonderful loungers that the S-Class ships. However, the steam room and sauna there are very nice and never crowded.

AQ passengers receive daily complimentary bottled water and a special iced tea (sort of herbal). That may not seem like much but we went through a couple of bottles of water each nearly every day so it was a nice benefit.

You'll also find a chilled bottle of sparkling wine in your cabin at embarkation. It's not the good stuff but it's fun to share with your friends at some point.

Last winter we sailed on the Silhouette with a family group. Since we were picking up the cruise fare for our daughters, we opted for regular balcony cabins rather than Aqua Class. We missed it - a lot!

Along with Shogun, we are on this same cruise, please stop by our roll call:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1847673

You might want to skip ahead since it was started over a year ago. Several of us tried to plan private tours to the Tattoo but only one person was successful and her group filled almost instantly. This all happened months ago. If you look at the Tattoo website, you'll find that it's pretty much sold out except for the expensive packages. Then you'd still have to find transportation to and from. A Princess tour may be your only option and you may want to book soon while that's still available. There are a finite number of seats in the arena and when they're gone, they're gone.

Where are you sailing from/to?

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To those who have experienced the embarkation lunch in Blu, did you notice how late it was open?

I haven't done an in-depth side-by-side comparison of the two lists but I don't see changes that will have a significant impact on my desired beverages. On the UK list, it shows an assortment of flavored Barcardi rums. On the printed list, it simply lists "Barcardi flavors". Perhaps some of the variance is because what's available from different ports of embarkation.

On a three day cruise recently, I received exactly the same set of coupons as I received on previous two week cruises.

I was on the Infinity in April 2013... Norovirus made our cruise very uncomfortable. What is wrong with this ship?

We were on Infinity April16-30, 2013 (san Diego-FLL). Don't remember any incidences of norovirus. Certainly no public announcements or restrictions or special precautions. Were you on the previous sailing (FLL-San Diego ?)

We had an excellent experience on the Silhouette in Select Dining in January. We generally asked for what we wanted but he was always around to top off a glass and make sure we didn't want something else.

They will establish the separate accounts during the online check-in process so advise them to be aware of who they are entering information for. In my two experiences so far with this, only one person was sent luggage tags. The envelope contained tags for both people but they were not mailed separately.

The Thalassotherapy Pool on the M-Class ships does not compare to what you experienced on the Galaxy. It's a very pleasant area but does not have as many features. I still miss the Galaxy and the Mercury.

Absolutely join your roll call! You can learn a lot about your ports from other people's homework:D and you can find some excursions to join.

Plan to relax - it's lovely to be in the middle of the ocean.

I don't mean to hijack this thread. If the online TA offers ONE of

1. Free OBC

2. Free prepaid gratuities

3. Free beverage package for 2

 

Since this is not 123go!, am I still qualified for shareholder OBC?

If the perk is coming from your TA, it does not impact your shareholder credit.

I really enjoy the Persian Gardens on the S-Class ships. I take my iPhone and use headphones to listen to music or some meditation sounds, basically anything that will block out noise. I have to agree about PG on the M-Class, though. I used it because we were Aqua Class but I did not spend nearly as much time there as I did on the other ships.

If you're Elite or above, you'll get a coupon for a free visit to PG on a port day. If that applies to you, you could get a chance to see what it's all about.

The only time we made a "reservation" in Blu was when we wanted to have dinner with a large group of other AQ passengers. We just went to the Maitre 'D and he suggested we arrive at 8:00. On one TA, Blu was filled by 6:00 every night so we waited until 7:30 to go. On others, we went whenever we wanted. It just depends on the passenger mix.

I assume you're asking about the loungers in Persian Gardens. It's hard to predict but it can be busy sometimes. They also don't take reservations. I found that early morning and late afternoon were good times to go. When you're doing the crossing portion of the TA, people get into a routine that becomes pretty predictable.

Don't try to get an answer to these questions from customer service at Celebrity. If you talk to three people, you'll get three answers.

Sending very positive thoughts your way.