PrincessPete

Hi Ron, I would love to send more details about Sorrento and the ferry etc (which would not really be relevant to this thread) - pardon my ignorance about the site but is there a way of contacting you by email or can you publish your email? Cheers Peter

Thank you to everyone who has replied to my review. It has been a pleasure to read the comments and also most welcome that people have made their own reasoned comments where we do not agree – rather than slating my own comments! As I said at the beginning of my review it was never my suggestion that our views were right and any different views were wrong so many thanks to all.

Some of the responses raised a few points that I will comment further on:

“S” CLASS SHIPS

I am a bit of a ship “anorak” and go on as many ship visits as possible to widen my own knowledge and experience. I have twice visited an “S” class ship (Celebrity Eclipse) and would have to say I think they are far superior to the “M” class. We chose the Constellation (as with every cruise we go on) for the itinerary though, so “M” class it was.

I also appreciate that some people prefer the smaller “M” class size so we come straight back to where we started – personal choice and matter of opinion!!

DRESS CODE

I am very happy to “agree to disagree” about this as several people mentioned as I know it is a divisive matter which will split passengers right down the middle. We can simply make our choice in future whether to accept what we are not really happy with or go to another line, probably Cunard where we have indeed had numerous great cruises.

CRYING CHILD

Most responders seemed to agree that the position we faced was not acceptable. I really liked the way the Maître D’ had dealt with a similar situation as explained by Chemmo. Certainly such management skills were lacking in our case!

The point was also made that it was the parent’s fault which I can largely agree with – it seems to me almost as selfish as “sunbed hogging” the way the parents continued to sit there with the child.

I still feel that Celebrity could say such young children should not be allowed at that time of night but there we are.

MICHAEL’S CLUB

A couple of responders have mentioned this and it is perhaps a point I should have covered in my original review. Just to explain………………we did not use Michael’s Club at all simply because we preferred to relax on the balcony after a hectic day sightseeing and also watch the sailaways (nearly all at 6.00pm) with a drink on our own.

The sailaways were fantastic and, added to my wife needing some “rest” time before the evening (following her illness last year), we preferred our own space particularly as the balcony was so large and comfortable. Indeed the sailaways carried on for a good hour most nights with some amazing scenery.

After getting ready for dinner we then generally just had 30 minutes or so in a bar (hence the reference to the Rendezvous Lounge) although quite often we lingered on the balcony so much that it was time for dinner at 8.00 pm when we finally dragged ourselves away and got changed! Each to their own once again!

Moving on specifically to the point made about the Helipad party and Bridge Tour I must add that they were provided but we did not go to either. The helipad party was as we sailed away from Kotor in Montenegro where we had a very tiring (but wonderful day) and we just crashed out on the balcony and then sat entranced with the most magical sailaway past wonderful countryside.

I am sure the Helipad party was great and is certainly a nice touch made available for suite guests.

The same nice touch could be said for the Bridge Tour which in our case was then followed by a full luncheon with the Captain and Senior Officers (on a sea day). We again passed on that – for two reasons. Firstly I have done many Bridge visits previously, some extremely detailed and on a “private” basis so I was happy to miss it (my wife is not really interested in that). The main reason though is that we are not lunch eaters preferring just a tiny snack – dinner is our event of the day and we cannot eat anything significant at lunchtime.

I would add that I did go and see Megan the Concierge to explain our absence for which she was very grateful.

BUTLER

There were some adverse comments about other Butlers amongst the replies and I was rather surprised to read that we were not alone in our experiences. I would say again that that individually the issues were so small we could not be bothered to raise them. As someone said we, like them, always made our own bookings for speciality dining etc rather than asking the Butler or Concierge. Where he made mistakes eg: Cola instead of Diet Cola……some shirts laundered but not pressed……..I really had no heart to make an issue about it. They were so trivial on their own but the point I was making was that the sheer number of them showed his lack of professionalism or indeed attention to detail in his job – surely a key requirement for a Butler.

NAPLES/SORRENTO

Shot2bits asked about the ferry to Sorrento which I mentioned we had done (I see you come from lovely Dereham in Norfolk!). This was a VERY straightforward journey. The ferry to Sorrento went from the same port area as our ship docked and was a walk of maybe 100 yards. There are several ferries going from there but are well indicated – there were also direct ones to Capri as well as Sorrento.

The journey to Sorrento took 40 minutes and there were sailings at 0900 and 1100 (as well as later presumably) and we got a return at 1400 hours. I cannot remember the cost but it was maybe 20 or 25 Euros per person return – nothing outrageous. Very comfortable journeys and there in no time.

Incidentally one tip if you do go to Sorrento……the town is high up above the sea and a STEEP walk. However, there is a well signposted lift within a couple of hundred yards from the dock which takes you there in a few seconds for a euro or two return fare. A lifesaver!

So that is it and thank you again for all the responses to my review.

Kind regards.

Peter

My wife and I returned a few days ago from our first Celebrity cruise – on the Constellation from Venice to Koper, Zadar, Split, Dubrovnik, Kotor, Naples, Sicily, Ravenna and back to Venice. Before the cruise we had a wonderful 4 days at the Locanda Vivaldi Hotel in Venice (review shortly to be placed on Trip Advisor). Here is our cruise review – may I please say at the outset that this, of course, is only our view and where we are critical I am not suggesting we are right and others with a different view are wrong – just that it is as we saw it!!

BACKGROUND

We have been on dozens of cruises on various lines since our first in 1984 but mainly on Princess and Cunard plus in earlier years P&O.

Due to my wife having a serious illness last year we had to cancel a couple of cruises so we splurged out this time on a Royal Suite, 6133 on Penthouse Deck.

EMBARKATION

Embarkation (and disembarkation) were extremely smooth. Indeed I would add that the whole holiday was very well organised by Celebrity – the transfers in Venice from airport to Hotel to ship to airport and everything else worked like clockwork.

SHIP

The Constellation took a little while to grow on us but did so during the course of the cruise. We did not like the piped music that was evident in most venues and in certain areas was excessively loud. I did not speak to one person who thought the volume was acceptable and was left with the feeling that it was mainly for the crew’s benefit not the passengers.

The bar service was a bit hit and miss for several days and was exceptionally poor in the Rendezvous Lounge on deck 4. The waiter service was very slow and many people gave up and simply walked to the bar to get service. Discussion with the Food and Beverage Manager led to a significant improvement in service in the second half of the cruise but it should not really have been necessary to do so.

We found there to be plenty of space throughout the ship even on sea days although in the evenings the lovely but small Martini Bar was just too busy and noisy for our taste – it was certainly a very popular venue though.

We did not like the fact that every restaurant on the ship closed for breakfast at 0830 on port days and 0900 on sea days – that really does seem a little early. We did have breakfast in the cabin on a few occasions and also in the Ocean View Buffet which we found to be extremely good (more later).

DRESS CODE AND EVENING CHIC

This is really our main issue with Celebrity and we did not like the dress code at all. We had 3 Evening Chic nights where, at an estimate, 35% of men wore tuxedos or jacket and tie – the rest were in the same casual wear worn on the remaining 9 nights.

On smart casual nights maybe 5% of men wore jacket and tie and the rest were casual and, of course, were complying with the Celebrity dress code.

My wife and I privately called the dress codes “Shabby Chic” and “Scruffy Casual” and without a word of a lie we spoke to several like-minded people who had used the same phrases.

Referring to my point at the start of the review (“this is just our opinion” etc) - for us, cruises are still special and part of the enjoyment is dressing up in the evening and everyone looking smart. Indeed we lost count of the number of people EVERY night who praised the way we were dressed – often while looking scruffy themselves. I found that most odd!

In conclusion on this section I must stress that our beef is with Celebrity NOT with our fellow passengers who obviously dressed as they wished and were complying with the official code.

It does mean though that for us Celebrity may not be a line to choose as plenty of their competitors (notably Princess) still have a limited number of formal nights. And, of course, so do Cunard.

It cuts no ice with us saying “wear what you want and ignore everyone else” as frankly we do not want to sit in a bar looking (in our opinion) smart and sitting next to someone looking as though they have dragged through a hedge backwards!

(Please note I am not trying to start another dress code thread but needed to explain our thoughts as a key factor in our decision whether to cruise with Celebrity again)

LUMINAE

The Luminae suite restaurant was a disappointment to us and also had a MAJOR issue which we feel needs urgently addressing by Celebrity.

We dined in there for the first two nights and were a little underwhelmed – the service and ambience were excellent but we were surprised to see just a choice of 4 starters and 4 main courses. The food was perfectly fine.

BUT…..on the second night we were eating at 8.00pm and on the adjacent table were a family group including an 18 month or so old child who bawled their eyes out for the whole meal.

We had already decided that Luminae was not for us but thought we would go in on the third night of the cruise as that was the first Evening Chic night so we could see if a really special menu was on offer. The answer was NO plus the family and (crying again) child were there but not sitting so close to us. I would add that the food itself that evening was excellent but still with a limited choice (at no time were we asked if we wanted to look at the menus from any other restaurants to supplement the choice available in Luminae).

So that was it with Luminae. A couple of days later the (extremely pleasant) Maître D’ saw us in a nearby bar and asked if everything was alright and where we had eaten and we had a lengthy conversation about the above points (which we had already drawn to his deputy’s attention.

He said he had received a lot of complaints about having to sit alongside a crying child for the evening but he said his hands were tied – Celebrity does not have a policy of children of that age not being allowed in the main restaurants at that time of night.

The Concierge in Michael’s Club also said she had received numerous complaints and was bringing the matter to the attention of Head Office urgently.

All I can say is that in 30 plus cruises we have never experienced babies of that age being allowed in the dining rooms at that time of night. We have children and grandchildren but would never have dreamt of taking them in to a restaurant at that hour when they were 18 months old.

We are again not trying to start a thread on the subject but I feel that any reasonable analysis would show that children of that age should not be present in a restaurant at that time of night. Breakfast and lunches – not a problem……………..8.00 in the evening is a problem, certainly for us and indeed the many others who complained.

I realise that as with everything some people may disagree – I would ask them if they REALLY want to be sitting within 2 yards of a screaming baby for their whole meal at 8.00 in the evening?

OCEAN LINERS RESTAURANT

As a result of our dissatisfaction with Luminae we decided to try Ocean Liners restaurant and WOW! We rediscovered cruising food and service that was the norm 30 years ago – a wonderful restaurant with loads of space between the tables, superb service and as for the food! I can only say WOW again. Tableside flambéed Dover sole, lobsters, chateaubriand – all superb. About a dozen starters and a dozen main courses to choose from plus you can order off menu to a limited extent with advance notice.

Now the downside……..the supplement is $50 per person per night although I have to say that one of the perks included in the Royal Suite was unlimited speciality dining so it did not cost us anything other than a hefty tip at the end for the superb service.

We ate there on 8 evenings and it was reasonably full every night (but please do not think our “perk” denied anyone else the opportunity to eat there as it was never completely full.)

Without exception everyone we spoke to who had been there said it was wonderful.

The Ocean Liners restaurant stands very good comparison with the Queens Grill on the QM2 (and is a much nicer restaurant inside) – we found the food, service, space and general ambience to be even better although in the Queens Grill on Cunard you can moreorless order anything you like. I must add that the Queens Grill is brilliant so when I say we thought Ocean Liners was better it is all degrees of excellence not a criticism of the Queens Grill.

We did eat one night in the other speciality restaurant Tuscan Grille so we could review that as well - $45 supplement. Excellent food and service but a rather out of the way restaurant on deck 11 (can only be reached from one set of lifts other than walking outside) and very cramped with tables extremely close to each other and a lot of bench seating. It was way behind Ocean Liners for us where, incidentally, every person had an individual chair with arms not a bench seat.

We did not eat in the main restaurant so can not comment on that although from a personal point of view I would have found it rather uncomfortable as none of the chairs have arms.

BUTLER

I am afraid our Butler, who I will not name in this review, was quite poor – we have had several Butlers over the years and he was way below the standard of previous ones. We are VERY low maintenance and we love speaking to the crew and finding out about their lives etc so the issue was not from our end.

He made several minor mistakes with breakfasts, drinks, laundry and other requests – nothing to make a complaint about but he really was not very professional.

On embarkation day we boarded at 1200 and he did not visit our cabin until nearly 1900 hours and did not know our names – that may be the norm on Celebrity but it is not our experience on other lines.

On the last evening of the cruise (which would be the normal time to say farewell) he was in the corridor on his mobile phone and just gave us a cursory wave.

After one of his several failures to comply with a request he contacted the Concierge himself to advise her (not that we did) and she wrote a letter of apology and supplied two bottles of wine. We did not actually use them but the thought was very nice. Unfortunately the Butler was just not really up to it in our opinion.

I was also more than slightly miffed to receive an envelope from him inviting a further gratuity after the normal level had been prepaid! Needless to say it was left unfilled!

BUFFET

Although I touched briefly above on the Ocean View buffet dining I must comment in further detail that we thought it was extremely good. Even on sea days there always seemed to be a table available and the food/variety was at an excellent level. We were most impressed with the organisation and the whole facility.

ROYAL SUITE

We loved the Royal Suite and the space it gave us – the balcony was massive and as we are big balcony users that was a huge bonus for us with two full sunbeds plus table and four chairs plus a Jacuzzi. The lounge area was a lovely place to relax although strangely we found the bedroom rather cramped as indeed was the wardrobe space adjacent to the bedroom. We did feel that had a little space being taken from the lounge area then the bedroom and particularly the wardrobe would have been more accessible. There was also a huge amount of storage space in the lounge area.

The included laundry and pressing was most welcome with the dirty clothes from the days in Venice before the cruise (and plenty of cruise clothes needing pressing after 5 days in a suitcase) and although we had heard that the complimentary laundry/pressing for Royal Suites had been reduced to twice per cruise we were not charged for any of the rather large amount we had done.

ENTERTAINMENT

Entertainment is, of course, subjective but we found it to be excellent. The production shows were well put together and there was an always changing number of guest artistes of whom we liked many. The Cruise Director Martin, a young very tall Belgium guy, was a great bundle of fun. The seven piece orchestra were absolutely brilliant especially the horn section led by Mark on the trombone. We had a long chat with him and learnt that they only have one run through with each guest artist before accompanying them live – when watching the acts though you would think they had played together for years which showed what superb musicians they all are.

PORTS

The ports were amazing. We particularly loved Koper in Slovenia (great tour to a lovely coastal town called Pirin and on to a quaint hillside village called Padna where the locals provided wonderful delicacies for us) and Sorrento where we went on a public ferry from Naples. We did four ship tours which were well organised and enjoyable.

TWO BIG GRIPES THAT CELEBRITY SHOULD DEAL WITH

One is the issue of babies in the restaurants in the evening.

The second concerns the selfishness of some passengers that could easily be addressed by Celebrity. We attended the show virtually every evening in the Theatre for the 1030pm performance. On EVERY night people were still ambling in at 1100 and talking while they were sitting down (and often during the show). I really do think that conduct was unacceptable and although it is the fault of the selfish passengers not Celebrity, I do feel that Celebrity should close the doors, if not the moment the show starts (which would be preferable) but within a couple of minutes so that anyone “just” late could be admitted but not those who come in towards the end of the show.

SUMMARY

We had a lovely cruise and would consider returning to Celebrity but it is not over likely. For us the dress code IS a deal breaker (however stupid that might seem to some people) and when added to the issues in Luminae, the early closure of restaurants for breakfast, the poor Butler and a few other matters we probably feel that other lines more suit our cruising wishes. I must stress though that there were good points, especially the wonderful Ocean Liners restaurant and overall the service and friendliness of staff were top notch.

I do hope this will be accepted as a balanced and reasoned review of our thoughts.

Good morning, PLEASE accept this is a genuine query with no wish to start a debate about the right and wrongs of smoking!

We have booked a Celebrity cruise (our first with Celebrity) as smoking is not allowed on balconies - we spend a considerable amount of time on our balcony and are badly affected medically by smoke drifting down from adjacent balconies.

I know that smoking is not allowed on Celebrity balconies.................but on a cruise last year on a different line people in the next cabin did smoke despite it not being allowed. This caused a lot of grief even though we we were in the right about politely asking them not to and being forced to make an official complaint.

My question is therefore has anyone come across this on a Celebrity cruise or do the passengers comply with the rules!

Many thanks.

Kind regards.

Peter

Good morning, we are shortly visiting three Croatian ports on a Celebrity cruise and wonder if anyone would kindly let us know recent experiences regarding the use of Euros in that country.

I appreciate that the official currency is the Croatian Kuna but various sites (including a Croatian Travel site) say that Euros are widely accepted.

However, in addition to pre-booked tours in two of the ports, we will be doing a lot of ambling round small shops etc in the towns which seem to me to be the kind of establishments that would only take their own official currency.

After the Croatian ports everywhere else on the cruise and afterwards is in the Eurozone so we do not really want any Kuna left over but spare Euros will be fine!

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Kind regards.

Peter

I have posted this separately to the ongoing thread as I do not intend to comment here on my own views of the change in dress code, strong as those views are.

My point here is that the matter is likely to become the most divisive matter ever, possibly even more than smoking/non-smoking issues.

Whatever side of the dress code divide you are on is it not going to be strange to see large tables with guests wearing a mixture of formal evening dress and jeans with a vest which is now surely inevitable.

I know many people have said that it should not bother you what others wear but in the example above I would think there is scope for both ends of the spectrum to feel uncomfortable – and it will certainly look odd.

As I said above I am making no comment about our preferences so please no shouting at me!

I was amazed to read from this thread that Cunard are STILL showing “Apassionata” on the Queen Mary 2.

Having sailed on Queen Mary 2 several times since her launch in 2004 and seen the show every trip I feel my wife and I could act as understudies for the cast (although I suppose not being able to sing or dance may be an issue).

It is in fact nearly 5 years since we last sailed on her for a New York/Caribbean cruise and I remember vividly talking to our dining companions very early in the cruise and saying that surely "Apassionata" would not be featured. But yes it was, of course, and now I see it is still on!

We are doing a TA next year and live in hope of some new shows – but will not hold our breath! I know it is expensive to create new shows but other cruise lines manage it perfectly and although I may be wrong I would imagine "Apassionata" is the longest serving show on the seas! Surely time to be pensioned off (and please take "Viva Italia" with her!)

I have just realised there is a thread for refit issues so should have posted there - further apologies to add to the two I made in the posting!!

I will start with two apologies. Firstly, if this subject has been raised before and secondly if it seems a trivial point.

I have just looked at the pictures of the newly redesigned Queens Grill restaurant after the 2016 refit – we plan a Transatlantic in October 2016 in a QG5.

If the restyled restaurant turns out to be as per the pictures it will indeed be lovely – but I notice that the chairs do not have armrests. Due to a back condition I am only comfortable sitting down with armrests which every restaurant on the Queen Mary 2 currently has - we have previously eaten in all apart from Princess Grill but from memory when I looked in there they do have armrests at present.

This seems to me to be a backward step. I may be in a minority of one but if they are the chairs (and I certainly would not ask Osman the Maitre D’ to make special arrangements for me) then I may have to rethink.

Any observations welcome but please do not think I am nit-picking – the restaurant design looks wonderful but I just know how uncomfortable I would be due to the medical condition I have.

Kind regards.

Peter

Hi, I always used to say to delegates when I ran training courses before I retired, "There is no such thing as a stupid question if you do not know the answer!"

Your first question has already been answered but I will add a further (hopefully amusing) reply regarding our experience with a taxi getting to the Brooklyn Terminal to sail on the Queen Mary 2 to the Caribbean in 2010.

We had just had four wonderful days in New York (one of favourite places in the world) and stayed at the Waldorf Astoria. The Cunard transfer was not scheduled to pick us up at the Waldorf until 1345 but our QG suite entitled us to arrive at, I think, midday at the Terminal.

We let Cunard know we would not be using the transfer (so they were not chasing round looking for us) and got a taxi from the Hotel. It was quickly clear that the driver was not 100% sure of the route and this was confirmed when we crossed over a bridge and he wrongly got into a one way system and had to head back over the bridge onto Manhattan!!

We were not in panic mode as we had many hours before the ship sailed but I did suggest very politely to the driver that he might like to stop the meter as we had already done our tours of Manhattan and did not want another one!!

He eventually worked out the correct way back and all ended well. My wife felt sorry for the driver and insisted we gave the usual tip - she was also then pleased to find he picked up some disembarking passengers at the Terminal going right up to Harlem so it was a very good fare for him.

So everyone was happy!

Hope this was not too boring and enjoy your trip!!

Kind regards.

Peter

As the title says Roy, many thanks for such a wonderful daily review of your voyage. It was especially poignant for my wife and I as we were supposed to be on the same voyage but illness intervened and we had to cancel. The medical treatment (for my wife) has worked extremely well and there is no reason why we can not now make the same trip next year (to coincide with our Ruby Wedding) so will be booking that when she finally gets the all clear.

We have sailed on the Queen Mary 2 many times and she is our favourite ship although the limited number of destinations that she sails to preclude us going every year on her, hence being Princess regulars (and a first cruise already booked on Celebrity, also for next year).

We could therefore picture where you were during the many postings you made and thank you so much for the pleasure you gave us and, of course, very many others.

Have a safe and enjoyable trip back on the Allure of the Seas and we shall be following that with much interest even though we have not been on that ship.

Kind regards.

Peter

Oh happy days! We sailed twice on each of Cunard Countess and Cunard Princess from 1990 through to 1994. Although all but identical we preferred the Countess because we did the cruises on her in the Caribbean - our first trips there followed by many more over the years on other ships, our love affair with the Caribbean all started because of the Countess cruises.

I think in the 1990's we all (and I am generalising here but it certainly applied to us!) had lower expectations and the small cabins with their awful tinny drawers were fine then. And a balcony? No chance! They hardly existed then so we did not miss them - now we would not cruise without one.

Our favourite room was the "in and out" bar as we called it at the stern of the ship with the inside lounge having the facility to open to the elements with full width sliding doors leaving you free to wander in and out at will.

One key memory.........Hey - we are in the Caribbean and it is Wednesday afternoon. That means it is Rum Punch party on the outer part of the "in and out" bar!!

We occasionally look misty eyed at the video of those cruises - even though I am sure if we were able to see the Cunard Princess in her current Golden Iris days we would think it was very basic.

Back then it was heaven and, as I said, HAPPY DAYS!!

Good morning

We have sailed on the QM2 several times but not on a Transatlantic. We are planning to do an Eastbound TA in 2016 with a few days in New York first and are not really bothered whether we choose a May or July crossing.

Does anyone have views on whether it would be preferable to wait until after the refit in late May or is that likely to be just cosmetic? We have not been on her for four years now so are not really up to date with whether she is in need of the refit or if it is being carried out just as a natural requirement every so often to deal with wear and tear matters.

I have read about possible alterations to the Casino/King's Court/Winter Gardens but none of those matters are of particular concern to us one way or the other. We are more interested in whether, dare I say it about our favourite liner, she is looking a little the worse for wear and badly needs the refit making July our best option when she will be all spick and span?

Any comments much appreciated.

Kind regards.

Peter

Thank you Jagoffee – and an apology as I think the fully stocked mini-bar on our last Princess Cruises trip (Diamond Princess) was because we were in a suite, I was getting confused with an earlier cruise. I think Jagoffee is right that (like Celebrity) the Princess Cruises mini bar is regarded as a separate matter and not included in the drinks package – obviously in PH and RS on Celebrity the mini bar is included as per in the top suites on Princess.

Thanks also to the latest posting from Muushka referring to packing a “small funnel”. Another very useful tip!

These forums work so much better when people restrict themselves to genuine questions, however trivial they may seem – and helpful comments without the barbed comments and sarcasm. Or perhaps it is a different kind of humour with different nationalities? (I ran training courses before I retired and I always said to delegates, “there is no such thing as a stupid question if you do not know the answer”)

Thank you for (most of) the replies – I had expected a few comments along the lines of “additional employees” and “making too big a deal of the fact that you might have to travel to a bar” as they seem par for the course on this and other forums!

Just to answer a couple of them………………. there is no way I would expect anyone to go and get a drink for me from the bar, even a Butler, so the question of “additional employees” and the suggestion of “cruises prices soaring” does not apply………………..”the big deal” is that if I am sitting in a swimming costume on the balcony it is a pain to get decently dressed to walk to the bar.

On that basis the replies that were intended to be helpful have indeed been exactly that and I am most grateful. Never having a drinks package previously I had not thought in my ignorance of going to a bar and asking for an UNopened beer, wrongly assuming they would just open it there and then………..I had also not thought of asking for the minibar to be emptied to leave space. So therefore a perfect solution and thank you to those posters. After all, paying $154 per day for the two of us I think it is reasonable to explore all avenues for getting your money’s worth!

The questions asked was “Have the other lines you sailed on provided in cabin cocktail service?” Not sure if that was a serious question or an attempt at humour but my answer is “I have no idea” – I do not know if Butlers provide that service (ie: going to the Bar to get a drink - as opposed to assisting at a cabin party which is a different matter altogether) but, as above, I would certainly never ask anyone to do so and would consider it quite unreasonable to ask.

As far as the mention of Princess Cruises - they do have fridges in the cabins but they are only stocked (as a mini-bar) on a complimentary basis for “Elite” Captain’s Circle members or if you buy a package.

Thanks again for the helpful tips.

Sorry if this question has been asked in the past – have trawled through without success to try and find the answer!!

I am interested in purchasing the Premium Drinks Package for my wife and I as we drink a lot of coffees/soft drinks during the day and a reasonable amount of the hard stuff in the late afternoon/evenings.

However, there seems to me a big question mark for us over the value of the package………………the reason is that we do spend a lot of time in the cabin during the late afternoon/early evening as we love sitting on the balcony before heading off for a late dinner. That time in the cabin is our main drinking time in addition to wine etc at dinner.

As I understand it drinks from the mini-bar are not included in the Premium package and therefore to have drinks in our cabin “paid for” by the package we would have to collect them from a bar. It would be rather annoying to have to make repeat trips to the bar during our 3 hours or so in the cabin/balcony.

Probably half our drinking is done in the cabin so it does seem to me the benefits of the Premium package would be lost if we had to pay for those drinks from the mini bar – as above, I appreciate I could keep going to a bar but that would rather impinge on our relaxing on the balcony.

Sorry if this seems a minor point to many but I would be most interested in any comments as to whether I am missing anything here.

Many thanks and kind regards.

Peter

Huge thank you again for the replys - and the link to the pictures Groupnors. It worked fine and I can see the canopy on the RS balconies which would be fine for us. Could not find a picture myself so most grateful for your time.

Thanks again

Thank you very much Sue for such a speedy and helpful reply. Are you able to assist on whether the Royal Suite balconies are covered or exposed - it is not entirely clear to me looking at the pictures I can find. Almost looks as though there is a canopy type of cover but I am probably wrong!

Thanks again

Good afternoon.

I would appreciate some advice from those who have travelled in the Suites on Celebrity Constellation please. We are about to book a special holiday and wondered whether it is worth paying the higher price for a Royal Suite instead of a Celebrity Suite.

I am happy to pay the higher price but would greatly appreciate any comments on the differences apart from the obvious ones of more space/Jacuzzi on balcony etc. Are the Royal Suites under cover rather than being fully exposed on this ship?

Although this should perhaps be a separate thread may I also ask about the Luminae restaurant? My daughter has just returned from the Constellation and gave me her daily programmes (they were not in Luminae). I see that on sea days a brunch is served from 1000 hours as opposed to breakfast which is served at the conventional earlier times on port days. This was the same on a friend’s recent sailing on the Eclipse.

Where do passengers eat breakfast at, say, 0830 on sea days if they would normally eat in Luminae? Seems strange to me that they night have to eat elsewhere but maybe I am missing something. (I would be perfectly happy to eat in the main restaurant but I am just curious.)

Many thanks in advance of any replies which will be gratefully received and doubtless extremely helpful!

Kind regards.

Peter

Hi all, just a further question on Celebrity Suites on the Constellation (new to Celebrity but I know the balconies were added on to these suites a couple of years ago).

Can anyone assist in advising whether you are likely to hear noise below you in the cabin/balcony if you are in the Suites on deck 6 where the Cafe is below.

Alternatively if you are on deck 9 do you hear noise from the Pool Grill above?

We had a nasty experience on a different cruise line with the pool area above our cabin and you could hear sunbeds moving all the time.

I appreciate that having cabins above and below is the best/quietest option but I am asking in case those that fit that description are not available.

As always, the help and advice from Celebrity cruisers is greatly appreciated by those of us that are new to the line.

Kind regards.

Peter

I was on a day visit to Celebrity Eclipse last weekend and had a look at Luminae where we will be dining next year on our first Celebrity cruise. (As an aside what a lovely looking restaurant!)

My query is that I had a long chat with who I believe was the Maitre D’ and we spoke about the opening times for dinner. He said that they like guests to arrive at or before 1900 or alternatively at or after 2000 – this apparently was due to the length of the 5 course meal and that tables taken at 1800 when the restaurant opens would not be free for possibly two hours.

I would be most grateful to hear from people who have dined in Luminae whether he was accurate in his comments and whether they are strictly true.

As far as my wife and I are concerned one of the key benefits of being able to dine in Luminae is, in addition to the quality of the food, the ability to arrive when we like although this would almost always be 1930 hours.

The person I spoke to was perfectly charming and not being dogmatic – but I was left with the clear impression though that entering the restaurant at 1930/1945 is not good for the staff. For us that is the perfect time – 1900 is just too early and 2000 a little late when you allow the inevitable time for menu perusing and delivery of food. And indeed all the literature says you can eat when you like within the set opening hours.

Am I worrying unnecessarily that Luminae will not fit the bill for us? Any observations much appreciated.

Many thanks and with kind regards.

Peter

Thank you to those who answered my earlier query regarding the differences between Eclipse and Constellation. This is an entirely different query hence the new thread.

We are going to be transferring our booking to a Constellation cruise and will be selecting a Celebrity Suite. As you will know the Suites are in pairs and it appears that the balconies are curved with one facing forward and the other more towards the stern. I guess the forward ones may be subject to more wind and would welcome any comments from previous users of the Suites on the pros/cons of forward/aft facing Suites. Can you see forward to a limited extent from the Suites that are aft facing?

Also, I know the balconies were added only a couple of years ago – are they an acceptable size or really narrow? I appreciate they will cover the width of the cabin but I wondered if they are tight for space between the access door to the balcony and the ship’s rail.

Do the cabins still have the lovely looking large glass windows following the balcony addition?

Many thanks for your help.

Kind regards.

Peter

Good afternoon

As experienced cruisers but newcomers to Celebrity I would value some comments from the regulars, please!

For reasons I will not bore everyone with we were going on a Celebrity Eclipse cruise next year but are in the process of changing it to a fly cruise on Celebrity Constellation. Never having cruised with Celebrity I booked a day visit to the Eclipse last weekend in Southampton and thought she was absolutely wonderful. I particularly liked the Luminae restaurant – we will be in a Celebrity Suite on the Constellation so will be eating in their version of Luminae.

Having seen the newer and larger Eclipse am I likely to be disappointed with the quality of a much older ship in Constellation? (I will have no problem with the smaller size as she is still 90,000 tonnes so not small!)

I understand that the balconies in the Celebrity Suites on Constellation were added a couple of years ago. We are big fans of balconies and tend to spend quite a while there. Being “add-ons” do any readers having stayed in a CS on Constellation have any comments, please, as to whether they are like “normal” balconies?

Again, being new to Celebrity, I am unclear on the benefits of Michael’s Club – is that the “VIP Club” referred to in the brochure when talking about Suite benefits? Is the Club a bar where you would go for a drink before dinner? If not where is everyone’s favourite place to go?

I do, of course, realise these things are largely a matter of personal taste and opinion but would very much value comments even though they may differ from each other!

Thank you very much and with kind regards.

Peter Smith

The review I posted a couple of hours ago appeared to have been rewritten - changing many words and phrases but keeping the meanings I had expressed.

Then it reverted back to the original format of my posting and I can not find the erroneous version.

I am not going mad and have not been drinking so am not imagining this!!

Can anyone explain what happened, please, or refer me to a Cruise Critic contact to see if they can check back through the various postings. It is as though someone "hacked" into my posting but now the erroneous version has now disappeared.

Most odd.

Many thanks for any help that can be offered.

Kind regards.

Peter

ANTHEM OF THE SEAS. MY DAY TRIP ON MONDAY 1 JUNE

A friend and I were lucky enough to go on a day trip to the “Anthem of the Seas” in Southampton yesterday arranged by a major Cruise Travel Agent following their cruise show earlier in the year when “Taster Days” were advertised. Here is a description of the day and my thoughts on the ship.

I must congratulate the Travel Agent (I do not think you are supposed to name them on this site?) and Royal Caribbean for the organisation involved in getting what must have been 150 day guests on board whist 4000 plus passengers were embarking on the same day.

We arrived at the port at around 0930 and were checked in and through security by 1000. By 1015 we were sitting in the “270” show lounge with a complimentary drink.

The timetable of the day was a short presentation and a mini show in the “270” show lounge at 1030 followed by a guided tour of staterooms at 1100 in manageable sized groups. By 1200 you were then allowed “free time” to wander around the ship on your own before meeting for lunch in the American Grille restaurant at around 1315. Disembarkation was at 1500 hours meaning a nice long spell on board from 1000 in the morning.

And now to the ship. Just a brief background note – we are very experienced cruisers and have been on many large ships including several times on the Queen Mary 2 which, as readers will know, is about 10% smaller tonnage wise than Anthem – the size of the ship was therefore not a shock to us.

CABINS

We saw a good selection of cabins ranging from the Owner’s Loft Suite over two decks down to the inside cabins with virtual balconies. Generally speaking they were pretty normal type cabins although I did not like the layout in all the standard balcony cabins. In alternate cabins the sofa was in the traditional place near the balcony with the bed being centrally placed – then the next cabin would have the bed right by the balcony (with plenty of space to access the balcony) and the sofa was at the entry end of the cabin just past the wardrobe/bathroom. This is repeated throughout the ship.

Perhaps it is me but I feel the sofa should be located where you can look out to the sea rather than by the bathroom door and I would be bitterly disappointed to have walked into one with the “wrong” layout.

The virtual balconies are a nice touch and added significantly to inside cabins plus they tended to feel quite spacious being square rather than the usual long and narrow standard balcony cabin.

TOP DECKS/”NORTH STAR”/SEAPLEX AND MORE

When we started our “free time” we went to the top deck and worked down. I had already seen from reviews and looking at deck plans that there is very little connection with the outside on this ship (I know some people have said this is to force passengers inside spending money which may well be the case!). There is no stern pool (although the Flowrider is there) and on a nice sunny day I feel there is a lack of places to go outside. It is true to say there are many sun loungers all round the upper deck for most of the length of the ship but they are right alongside the jogging/walking track (there is no promenade in the traditional sense of the word).

I think it could prove disturbing to some to have joggers/walkers just a foot away from the end of the sunbed and it is hardly conducive to a relaxing time. There are, of course, sunbeds around the pool area away from the jogging track.

Whilst up on the top decks we went into the adults only Solarium area at the very forward end and thought it was a delightful space. I also liked the covered pool area that is located forward.

To my surprise as a day visitor we were allowed to go on the “North Star”, the pod that rises 300 feet above the sea. That was good fun and we enjoyed the views – no disrespect is intended to Southampton but the views would be even more dramatic from “North Star” in an exotic location.

We also briefly looked in the huge Seaplex area where the dodgem cars were in full swing!

PUBLIC ROOMS

The theatre is in traditional format with good views from pretty much every seat with just a few pillars.

The 270 show lounge at the stern is a futuristic room with robot controlled screens and has windows covering ¾ of the stern hence the 270 (degree) name. I think the room comes into its own at night when the massive windows have screens on them and the show includes acrobats and dancers appearing from under the floor. The five minute show we saw was, of necessity, just using the robot screens and did not really have the effect that I am sure the whole show would have at night.

There are too many public rooms to comment on individually but I did find the Royal Esplanade to be rather overfilled with cafes/bars/shops almost to the point of claustrophobia (more later on the number of people there).

RESTAUARANTS

My friend and I decided to forego the lunch in the main restaurant and just have a snack at the casual dining area on deck 14 to allow more time to see the ship. The area is huge but it was impossible to find a spare table at 1230 (to be fair it must be said that there was a very large number of people waiting with hand luggage for when they could access their cabins at 1300 so it would not be fair to judge the ability of the area to feed the masses on our experience).

As readers will know there are four main restaurants which are the complementary ones – they were nicely decorated and pleasant rooms. There are also numerous other eateries that incur a supplement. Some of the prices did seem really excessive even though we are used to the existence of supplements on other ships. As an example, it costs $39 per person to eat in the Chops Grille and even then there are some dishes which incur an extra supplement of up to $21. I do feel that is over the top!

A SUMMARY OF MY THOUGHTS ON THE SHIP

I did like the ship although it is not for us but that is because our children are grown up and we travel as a couple liking the traditional type of cruising offered by Cunard and Princess, amongst others. However, Royal Caribbean are not really aiming the ship at cruisers like us but families and others who like the cutting edge format of iPads around the ship/wristbands and the futuristic type shows rather than the more traditional Broadway/Hollywood themes. It therefore seems to me they have got it right for that market.

I do feel that the ship will feel extremely overcrowded on, for example, sea days with bad weather. Even at 1430 yesterday afternoon with not everyone on board the Royal Esplanade was heaving and every seat seemed to be taken in most bars. It simply would be too overcrowded for us compared, for example, with the Queen Mary 2 that has 2,000 passengers less for a broadly similar size.

The excessively loud piped music everywhere (particularly noticeable on deck) would also annoy me hugely but I accept is popular with younger people, indeed those whom the product is aimed at.

As far as the “special” attractions are concerned I am sure that in the summer holidays, with hundreds of children on board, the Seaplex area/North Star/rock climbing will have long queues. As above, I do not like the comparative lack of outside space when the number of passengers is taken into account and the whole format is just not for us.

Finally, though, please do not take these comments as being critical – being “ship mad” I went on the visit out of interest and was largely impressed with what was on offer but it is just for a different kind of clientele to the one where my wife and I are located!

I hope this may be of some interest to readers and anyone booked on the ship in the summer with kids will have a great time without doubt – certainly the kids will and the parents will not see them for the whole cruise!