DaisyFire

First time sailing with HAL...

I will be sailing with a large family group (20) people and am trying to figure out dining arrangements.

3 folks have said they prefer dinners in the buffet - so that cuts us down to 17.  Now here's where it get's tricky.  13 have indicated that they would like the early traditional dining seating - which seems easy enough, but the other 4 have said they want to do flex most days - but would like to dine with the entire group on the first night and the last. 

I assume that traditional dining tables are likely grouped together - so the flex people would not be able to just show up on those two days and hope to get tables near the rest of us.

So I am thinking that it might be best to just get 2 10-tops reserved for early dining - and those 4 folks would just do their own thing the other 5 nights. (Also thinking that the 3 who like the buffet may also like to join us for those nights as well - even though they did not specify.)

Does anyone see any problem with this?  Will refuse to seat you for Flex if you have an assigned traditional time slot?

Thanks in advance for your help!

We are planning to stay onboard for one or two ports - perhaps that would be a good day to enjoy lunch there.  Does anyone know if they are open on port days?

6 hours ago, wendychloecruiser said:

Their blue cheese salad dressing is unbelievable.  I don’t have it at home but it is so worth the cheat.   The fish and chips is really good but I’ve never seen it offered anywhere but on UK and maybe Med cruises.  

I've had fish and chips in Oceanview several times.  They really are very good!

On 1/20/2019 at 2:34 PM, Fogfog said:

We really enjoy Murano. 

Not sure if this is current but it is close

 

http://www.beyondships.com/Celebrity-Solstice-menu-Murano.html 

 

Here is another one--looks current

 

 

 

I notice the menu attached via picture does not have the lobster or pan seared filet... have they removed these from the menu options for Murano?

I have to make sure I get waffles at least a couple of times each cruise. With the strawberries and fresh whipped cream ... Yum!!

Thank you everyone for the thoughtful input. Excellent point regarding the cost paid for package (per night/meal) is actually slightly more than the actual “list price” for the Porch. (Not sure how I missed that detail 😊 - and I also didn’t realize the seafood tower was an up charge.) 

Great advice on making reservation early. I have learned the hard way that Murano and LCG book up fast and now make our reservations as soon as possible on embarkation day. 

I love Murano and plan to use 2 of our meals there - and LCG is also a favorite. My husband is kind of lukewarm about Tuscan for some reason and I’m not sure LPC is our cup of tea, so I was trying to mix it up a bit by considering the Porch. 

Do you think we can get away with eating at Murano for 3 of the 4 nights? 😎

We purchased a 4 night specialty dining package for our upcoming Reflection cruise. I want to try out The Porch and since the cost is the same for lunch or dinner, I was thinking I might prefer to visit for lunch. Does anyone know if that’s allowed on the 4 night package? Or can I only use the package for dinners at the specialty restaurants?

Thanks!

On 12/13/2018 at 8:59 AM, terrydtx said:

I wonder if you can ask to have the wine poured at your table in front of you?

I find this interesting... When I have ordered wine by the glass on Celebrity it has always poured at the table for me, and with the first pour of the ordered wine, they show you the bottle to approve before they pour. I guess that is not the case on HAL?  

We have booked our first HAL cruise for Alaska 2020 on the Oosterdam.  I am reading this forum and thread to try to decide if I will purchase an alcoholic beverage package. If I could purchase one for just me, it would be a no-brainer, but with HAL's rule that both passengers in the cabin have to purchase the package - it really makes no sense since my DH does not drink. Does anyone know if there is any flexibility on this rule? Does it apply onboard - or only to pre-purchasing packages to get the $5 per day savings?

Our convenient, affordable Signature Beverage Package allows you to select from a variety of wine, beer, spirits, cocktails (including non-alcoholic), sodas, bottled water (sparkling 330ml or still 500ml) & coffee! Includes any beverage priced at $9.00 or lower (up to 15 beverages per day). Prices are per day at $44.95 if pre-booked online compared to $49.95 if purchased on board. A 15% service charge will be automatically applied to your purchase. The package must be purchased for the entire duration of the voyage. All adults over 21 years old booked in the same stateroom must also purchase the package. Participants may order only one drink at a time and must be 21 years or older. Sharing is not permitted. Excludes Mini Bar, Chocolate Seduction, In-Room Dining, beverages on Half Moon Cay, Freestyle Coca-Cola and any self-service draft beer. Packages are not transferable or refundable. Beverage management reserves the right to revoke the package if misused and reserves the right to refuse service for any reason; including refusing service of alcoholic beverages to intoxicated customers.

Trying to guesstimate impact on fares.

 

On my recent sailings the low price was usually when cruise first opened for booking. Under dynamic pricing as the ship filled prices rose, sometimes dramatically, right up to final payment date. It therefore seems fair to say that early bookings and multiple bookers have the effect of creating scarcity and driving prices up. If customers cancel at final payment date and X cuts price to fill the ship it's too late for the rest of us to request adjustments.

 

With non-refundable deposits would expect cruisers to book later, and ships to fill more slowly. Low occupancy levels will keep fares down and force X to be more promotional. Logical?

Makes sense to me... I am sure I will adjust my booking habits similar to what you are describing.

Well - 50 minutes on hold to get to a Celebrity agent, but was able to confirm that Go-Best is part of my reservation. Agent explained that some people are not able to see some parts of their reservation due to the browser they are using. Sounds odd - but so long as she confirmed my package details I am a happy camper. :cool:

Still waiting to hear back from TA from emails/calls I've made to them. It will be interesting to see how long it takes them to finally respond. (First email was sent about 3 weeks ago and I've sent 2 more since then (one per week) and called and left a message this morning. To be fair, handling issues for customers like Jelayne who have final payment issues are probably a higher priority - but as I am within 30 days of my sailing, I would hope they would be providing me with the itinerary updates soon...

Joan (Jelayne) - so glad everything got sorted out for you! Enjoy your time on the Reflection!

Thanks! I've done this and also tried to use the 'check in' option from the main page as well - both get me to a version of my reservation that I otherwise cannot see - but order history only shows the tour I booked in San Juan (which will no longer be applicable due to the itinerary changes that I heard about yesterday via my CC Roll Call). Nothing for bev package or OBC (but OBC amount shows as available when purchasing excursions and add-ons.

 

I am going to try to call Celebrity to confirm my 'Go Best' - just not sure if they will answer my question because I booked through a TA. :(

Go to the cruise planner for your reservation and look under Order History. The Bev pkg and Internet should show there. The OBC also shows, prepaid gratuties don't show.

 

 

If you don't see them log out of your account wait about a half hour then Go to the website but do not log-in. From the menu on the top left of the page select Cruise Planner then it will ask for your reservation number, ship, etc after which I believe you log in- then look under Order History. Sometime things that don't show when you go tgrough the normal route show when you go this way to your reservation. Good luck.

Thanks! I've done this and also tried to use the 'check in' option from the main page as well - both get me to a version of my reservation that I otherwise cannot see - but order history only shows the tour I booked in San Juan (which will no longer be applicable due to the itinerary changes that I heard about yesterday via my CC Roll Call). Nothing for bev package or OBC (but OBC amount shows as available when purchasing excursions and add-ons.

I am going to try to call Celebrity to confirm my 'Go Best' - just not sure if they will answer my question because I booked through a TA. :(

Thanks, I didn't know about that way of getting to the reservation & the Go Best Perks do show so that's great:D.

 

Now I have to find out if I am going to being charged the erroneous extra $1260 more and how to make final payment if I can't reach the TA.

 

The beverage package will get a lot of use if we can get this resolved.

Jelayne,

Can you tell me where you see the bev pkg details on the reservation? I have logged in using the method described and could not find any reference.

I have the same TA as you and while final payment was made as per the arranged amount about a month and a half ago, our ports were impacted by the hurricanes recently and have not had any itinerary updates from the TA (nor X since the reservation belongs to the TA) - and were it not for CC, I would have no idea where we were headed after we leave FLL on 11/19.

Given the TA is virtually AWOL, I am worried about the fact that I cannot find the 'go best' referenced anywhere on-line as part of the reservation and was hoping to allay my fears on that count at least. (I have the TA's reservation paperwork from final payment which lists it - hoping that is enough for Celebrity to honor it in case there is a glitch.)

Thanks!

Marguerite

Is this a change from previous policy? I seem to recall that drinks over the classic package limit were simply not covered - and that you could pay the difference between drink cost and the package per drink limit only with the premium package. For example, for a person with the classic package, a martini at the Martini bar would not be covered at all and you would have to pay the entire cost of the drink vs. just paying the amount over $9. (I suspect this was intended as a way to get more folks to upgrade to premium...) - But it sounds like multiple posters are saying that you are allowed to pay the difference for both premium AND classic. (I checked the Celebrity site and I cannot find a reference to paying the difference for either the classic or premium package it just says it covers drinks up to $9/$13 depending on the package.)

Not trying to muddy the waters - just trying to understand so I can drink/spend wisely. :cool:

The $55 per person per day covers drinks to the $9 and it will include 18% gratuity automatically. There is a selection of drinks, beer and wine at most bars (except World Class Bar) available in that range. Nothing premium if you like good liquor. Also soda and premium coffees. You can drink as much or as little as you want. No limit when you reach $55. You can order a drink for more and just pay the difference. If you order a $12 dink you will be charged $3 plus gratuity. On the Celebrity web site you can find what is included in the Classic Package. Yes Elite members get free drinks (from a limited menu) between 5-7pm or on some ships get 3 drink coupons per night. As for the dining room, stop at a bar before you go in and get a glass of wine to bring with you.

This is test... just quoted four posts using the multi-quote (+) to select them all...and it looks like it only included 2 - so apparently there is now a limit! :o

"+ let's you quote multiple posts in your reply.

I understand the initial complaint, how many times do we see a response include multiple pictures and the only comment is 'Thanks' !

 

I am a bit puzzled - the 'quote' and 'reply' seem to do the same thing - in the previous format didn't 'reply' not include the prior post ?

 

I like the 'Quick Reply' at the end of the thread and see it includes an option to 'quote'. Seems to make Quote and Reply redundant except you have to go to end of thread to see it right ?

 

OK I see 'Quick Reply' is at the end of each page.

 

What does "+ do ?

Thanks for clarification of "+. neat.

 

However Quote and Reply in bottom right of comment seem to do the same thing and as shown above includes the OP and your comment. The 'Post Reply' box includes the OP. I clicked "+ and it just changed to "- - don't see how to use it.

I had to play around with this some to figure it out... looks like the multi-quote/+ just acts as a selection. Click it for the posts you want to quote - it changes the button color on my screen to let me know which ones I clicked on - and then once you've selected them all, click the Quote button on any of the posts. It will start a reply for you that includes all those posts that you 'selected' using the +.

I only tried two in my testing - so I cannot confirm or deny the other poster's comment about the limit being two posts in the current multi-quote.

I have always used the other approach of starting one reply with a quote, copying the quoted text from that, canceling that one and then going to the other post I want to quote, and in the new quoted reply, paste the other one I copied. If I wanted to quote more than two, I just copied the two that I now had, and cancelled, went the next post, quoted that, pasted the previous copied info, ... wash, rinse, repeat. It took a little time, but I rarely needed to quote multiples - so never an issue for me. I am going to have to play around with the + to test it's limits :)

I've been reviewing a lot of the Dailies from recent Eclipse cruises that were posted in reviews - and the live music that is offered in several venues on board at various times of the day is listed there. I was actually quite impressed with the variety of music groups and the different venues where they would play. I can't speak to the Silhouette - but I can't imagine that Celebrity would vary the experience between S-class ships sailing similar itineraries. The acts do play for about an hour to an hour and a half per set... perhaps your friend just had bad timing - or perhaps they had some of their performers cancel or get sick at the last minute. :o

If anyone is really interested in catching the live music performances, I suggest that they check the Dailies each morning and plan out a schedule for themselves. It's what I am planning to do on our upcoming cruise. :cool:

Justcrusn is correct...the 4 meal seems to be the package where the per meal price hits it's stride... subsequent meal packages don't seem to gain you much more off per meal (maybe a dollar or two). The best thing to do is to compute the per meal cost for each package as offered on your reservation planner and decide the best deal for you.

I purchased the 4 meal in advance for our cruise and plan to add to that as I can find deals on board.

I believe the main change on the new plans which offer any number of dinners - up to the number of days on your cruise - is that the specific restaurants you must eat at are no longer dictated - so you could eat all of the meals at Murano if you wanted (provided you can get reservations). Can anyone whose had one of the new packages on a recent sailing confirm this?

Thanks!

How are you planning on getting to the port? Plenty of places near by the port that you can make a quick stop at.

We are planning to use Uber. When you say near the port - are any of these close enough to walk to from the port? Could we just check our luggage in with a porter and then walk back outside of the port, find a store, and then walk back?

I've mapped several hotels and then checked for nearby wine stores - and then tried the reverse (found the wine store then tried to map a nearby hotel.) And while I can find both within proximity to each other, the hotel that are near stores don't seem to have an airport shuttle. Does anyone know of any hotels near a wine store (or Publix) that also has free airport shuttle service? Or am I looking for something that just doesn't exist?

Our current reservation is at Cambria Suites - but it seems that a walk to a wine store would be about 10-14 blocks - plus since we depart on a Sunday - I doubt any of these would be open at 10am. (These are wine stores - not Publix.)

Thanks for your help!

Yumm - to both!! I like drinks with a spicy kick. :)

Try making them with "Stoli Hot", Jalepeno infused vodka. Pretty darn tasty:D

 

My favorite drink from Celebrity is the Fresca Picante from the old Molecular Bar. Some of the World Class bartenders have made them for me.

 

.5 oz gran Marnier

.5 oz agave nectar

.5 oz lime juice

.75 oz pineapple juice

1.5 oz tequila

Muddle strawberry, jalapeno and cucumber.

Shake on the rocks.

Is this an extra cost even if u have Premium BEV pkg? ?

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Forums mobile app

The Spicy Mango Tini is listed at $11 on a menu someone posted from Sushi on 5 recently - so it's covered on premium :D

When you prebook a package, do you get to reserve day and time or just pick the restaurants?

The package asks you to pick either the first or second night for your first reservation when you book. No mention of which restaurant, but I've heard that they assign you to one and will tell you when you board - but you can change it on board. This is my first time pre-booking specialty restaurants - so I'll defer to others who may be able to add details or correct me :)

Most of the time the staff from the restaurants will position themselves around the ship. Especially when coming back from an excursion. The discount we did was $250(for 2 people)for 4 different rest. We chose 2 times for Murano & 1 each for Qsine & Tuscan. For single nights they often discount 25% or more. It all depends on how many pax dine in the rest. We noticed a lot more empty seats(by NO means empty, however)on our 14 day Eclipse trip this past Jan.

For our upcoming 14 day on the Eclipse, that's the price we paid to book the 4 dinner package online ahead of time. :)

We have just come back from The Infinity in Antatrctica and we had a gym package. It was $99 plus 18% service charge and this covered 12 pay classes (classes paid for singly were $11 plus 18% service charge) The package could be split across 2 people so we did 6 classes each. In effect we had 3 free classes.

Make sure you review the class schedule for the the entire cruise before you purchase a package. I have found that if you are interested in one particular type of class that this type of class may only be offered a handful of times throughout the cruise and not necessarily at times that are conducive to your schedule.

For example, I would love to take a yoga class every day - but found that on an a prior 11 day sailing, yoga was only offered about 4 times and 2 of those were at times not convenient (like 5pm - when you have a 6pm early dinner seating). So as attractive as a 12 class pack seems, I am not sure I would be able to find classes to my liking since I am looking for something very specific. Perhaps things have changed and I will find better options - but on my upcoming 14 day cruise I am hoping to be able to get in at least 2-3 yoga classes. If I can get in more - that would be wonderful.

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http://www.stopthestomachflu.com/Home/which-cleaning-products-kill-stomach-flu-viruses

Unfortunately, as most have pointed out - there is really no way to clean everything you are going to come into contact with. All you can do is follow good hygiene practices and hope for the best.