ChucktownSteve

Don't tell anyone, but Morningstar rates RCL as a strong BUY (4.8 out of 5.0), 4 stars.

 

This year to date is a correction. The stock is up 195% last 5 years. 90% last 3 years.

Don't tell anyone but I believe RCL gave weak guidance for the next quarter in their last quarterly report.

Besides, what good is owning RCL for shareholder benefit unless you're going last minute "Xciting" (sic) deals, re-positioning or transatlantic? Everything else is excluded...unlike Carnival and their group of cruise lines.

I am starting to research hotels & transportation for my Sept. 2017 cruise on the Anthem....I will have Holiday Inn Reward points I was hoping to use...but the only Hotel I can find in the area is across from the Newark airport...they have an airport shuttle which is great...but is it going to be terribly expensive for me to get to the port the next day? I will be traveling solo....open to all hotel suggestions...the free night would be nice...but not if it's going to cost me more in travel expenses later...

When I stayed at a Newark hotel, I had the front desk call a taxi for me. I noticed several people were taking taxi's also. This month I paid $45 plus tolls for 2-4 people from the airport to the port.

You might consider hanging around the hotel lobby before calling a taxi and asking someone with cruise cabin tags if they'd like to share a taxi to the port. Or when you check in ask the desk if someone wants a taxi you 'd be willing to share.

As long as Tito's is still on the classic package I am great.

It was on the Summit a week ago.

In business, every time you raise prices, you'll lose some customers. The bean counters know how much business they will lose and how much more money they will make on the remaining customers with the price increase.

Apparently Celebrity believes they'll make more money by forcing the perk purchases rolled into the fare than the people that jump ship. As long as the uninformed keep filling their ships this tactic will remain.

So far Queen Lisa may be laughing all the way to the bank but their stock price this year doesn't prove that out.

Good to know. Thanks.

 

What airline let you do this?

We were on United and had TSA pre-check. Although I don't know if that a bearing or not.

Last week we got to EWR at 9:30 for a 2:30 flight and had absolutely no problem checking in or going through TSA.

I'm beginning to wonder if the increasing number of comments about the surliness/tardiness of bar staff has anything to do with the drinks packages that seem to be frequently included in the cruise fare.

 

I assume that there is no longer any need to work for tips because they are all included in the package so why bother?

It appeared so on the Summit but not earlier this year on the Constellation. I tipped an excellent bartender on the Constellation $20 even though I had the drinks package and upgraded with him so he got the credit. The Summit bartenders lost out because they made it a self fulfilling prophecy.

I am becoming a little more concerned about the condition of the M class ships...Those pictures of the Summit were not inspiring! We have cruised on both Millie and Summit and enjoyed as older ships. We have expected to see a little age but I do hope X is not going to cut back on their maintenance now the Edge project is nearing. The recent 'revamp' does not appear to be very good.

It appears they may have already begun cutting back. I was sitting in the Oceanview cafe, in one of those extended window tables and glanced to the underside of the next window extension. There was a lot of rust there.

Last September on the Summit, two of the midship elevators malfunctioned. One was out the entire cruise and the other would stop three feet above the deck and open the doors. Then drop down to the deck and do the same thing again, opening three feet above the deck.

This month the one that was out all cruise was not working only one day but the other one I noticed had stopped three feet up with passengers and opened. So they still haven't fixed the elevator problems either. Also don't be surprised when you press the up button (or down) and an up elevator rushes past your deck going the direction you wanted to go. It happens a lot midship.

I'm just glad that our next two cruises are on an S class which will be our first time on the newer, larger ships.

I just got off the Summit last Sunday. During the cruise I went to the future cruise desk to check on a Panama Canal cruise in April 2018. They quoted over $10K for an obstructed balcony. :eek:

I told them if I wanted to pay that price, I would book with Oceania or Azamara and promptly walked out!!!

I had the same observations on my July 31 sailing. The bartenders at the Oceanview Bar were not a happy group.

Marie

That's why nobody sat at the sunset bar for any period of time the whole trip; including me.

The opposite was the case on the Connie this past February. Most of the bartenders were fun and personable. The bars were more full.

We disembarked the Summit August 21, three days ago. I found the ship tired despite the "refurbishment."

Here's a picture in the specialty restaurant, Tuscan, where they still haven't noticed the tape placed during painting.

This is along the port side.

This was the base of our balcony railing.

I won't bore you with more like pictures but I also found the attitude of many bartenders to be similar to the ship condition. They were doing their job but no interaction or personality. They didn't seem like they were enjoying their job. I'm sure there were some exceptions but I didn't run into them.

So no, again I say, the Summit is not a good equivalent substitution for the Eclipse!

I was scheduled to sail on the Eclipse in 2018 and got a great price. Since then, prices have at least doubled.

 

Got a call from Celebrity today telling me the cruise has been chartered and my reservation will be cancelled.

 

They are offering me one option. Book on the Summit in March and they'll "price protect" my rate and give me a $100 onboard credit. That timing doesn't work for us, as we have another trip to Europe planned.

 

I have another Celebrity cruise booked early 2017 and I thought that a reasonable offer would be some form of upgrade/specialty dining/obc on the current cruise. They basically told me "too bad" and either take the march Summit cruise, or pound sand. If I do nothing, they will cancel my current reservation Sep 6th.

 

Any thoughts or recommendations? I didn't think my suggestion was terribly unreasonable, was it?

NO you were not being unreasonable but Celebrity doesn't have to be reasonable. I'm just off the Summit. If that's all they'll give you for an alternative to an S class ship, I'd tell THEM to pound sand. Besides, $100 OBC, based upon their cost of goods, is nothing to them. Azamara cancelled one of my cruises next year and they gave everyone $500 OBC.

We just returned from a 7 night on Celebrity Summit. We ate in Blu on this cruise and our previous cruise on the Constellation this past February. Food varies by ship and crew.

Last fall in the MDR on the Summit our food was always overcooked. On the Constellation, Blu was perfectly cooked to temperature. On Summit, Blu was over cooked every night.

We're going the opposite direction from Celebrity to Azamara. On this past cruise I went to the future cruise office and inquired about a Panama Cruise in April 2018. They quoted me over $10K for an obstructed balcony. I told them if I wanted to pay that kind of money, I'd sail on Azamara or Oceania and left.

We're happily looking forward to our August 2017 Journey cruise!

Conversely when we ate in Blu on the Constellation in February, the food was fantastic. Every dish came out cooked to proper temperature and juicy/freshly cooked. Special orders were accommodated.

Last fall when we dined in the MDR on Summit for 14 nights, most of those meals were overcooked as well.

Now I wonder if it's "chef"/ship specific.

T agree...Blu is not what it use to be. :(

I found most of the dishes in Blu to be overcooked and not delivered according to temperature ordered.

The first evening my DW's steak, ordered rare, came out well done. The last evening I wanted the duck but the waiter, when I inquired if it was overcooked, warned me it was; as was the lamb. I won't bore you with the days in between. They're precooking many of dishes and letting them finish under the warmer.

Two mornings for breakfast I specifically ordered THREE eggs over easy. Both times they would only deliver TWO. And how about those pre-frozen Lenders type bagels? They used to make them on board four years ago.

We have two more cruises through January. Not doing Blu. The cabin difference in cost is just not defensible by the quality of Blu food as the perk IMHO.

"Northeners" are rude? Please explain.

Ha! I was just trying to see who I got a rise out of. I'm born in NY raised in Northern Jersey. :D Guess you missed the " " and winkie?

This was the best cabin we've ever had!!! On the Connie we were last cabin port side deck 11.

Heading into Bermuda night before docking. (Two cropped photos)

Here's a panoramic view of why I'm glad our bow faced the Breakaway.

But John and Debbie had the Best Cabin of ALL!!! It's absolutely incredible. I'm sure they had better views than us.

Wonderful review, Debbie. Thanks so much.

 

Chuck, we met Pina Colada on the July 31 cruise. What cabin is this? We were in AQ, 9043(hump slant) and inquired about foot stools but was told "only on the newer ships". It looks like you are AFT.

 

Marie

We had two chairs, two foot stools and one lounger. Pina Colada had her own chair. We were in AQ1 1138 aft.

Even Pina Colada loved the view.

I think his name was Nalish...or something like that. The same apple, and pear were left in my room for the entire cruise. One day he brought an orange...I ate it but never saw another orange in the tray. You would think that if I ate a specific fruit it would be replaced with the same fruit....but noooooo. Ice was a commodity, I ended up going to the buffet to get ice on some days.

 

As there were three in the suite, I asked for additional towels.....but noooooo. We were allotted three in the morning and three at night.

 

Except for him...it still was a great cruise

That's because I got all your oranges. ROFLMAO My cabin steward gave me six oranges EVERY DAY! All I did was ask the first day if he wouldn't mind replacing the apples with oranges. That's the difference between our cabin stewards....apples and oranges. :p

I usually wait until someone is a little tipsy and push them off.

 

:D

 

 

(And yes I am kidding!)

I find someone very tipsy and send them a drink called the Jelly Bean. It's so sweet after two free ones, they usually get up to heave and don't come back because they don't feel like drinking any more. :D

We too just came off this cruise and are happy to say of the 3 times in the last 5 yrs on the Summit, this was our best time on the ship!

Yes, the chair hogs were out in force, which is always upsetting. I really do wish the powers that be could put their expensively paid heads together and come up with some type of solution to this problem! But hey, you cant let that ruin your time. It did allow us to find some wonderful hidden places on deck 11 to relax in and out of the sun, so that's what we did.

I will say we did have an "incident" over chairs with a rude, vulgar person who found it okay to move the things off my chair when I ran down to my suite to assist my disabled son up to join me on the chairs me, my sister, mother and husband had been sitting in for at least an hour.

At one time or another we left the chairs for various reasons, i.e. go in the pool, mom ran down to get advils in her cabin, husband went to check out the buffet, you know, you are allowed to leave for a bit. My sister stayed the whole time and when I went to get my son to help him up to deck 11, the one and only time she actually was by herself for a few minutes, while she had her head turned sunbathing, someone decided they wanted two of our chairs. They picked the things off my chair and moved them to an empty one a few seats away. Now mind you, it was still on the early side and there were 2 chairs to be had in various places, but no, they wanted mine and my husbands chairs! When my sister explained that the chairs were in use and told them the reason I had left for a few moments this person told her she couldn't save our chairs.

Save our chairs? No one was saving chairs, we had been using them!

I don't know about others, but if I was told that yes, someone is sitting here, they just left for a minute to get their disabled son who is blind in one eye and has some mobility issues, me? I'd say, so sorry, and go look for 2 other chairs, but not this guy!

It escalated to the point of my sister and then I having to talk to security and then finally, I believe when my sister had to explain to the wife (she said to my sister "how do we know he's disabled? yes lady, I make that up so I could score chairs on cruise ships) she was told to just take a look at the black and blues he had on his legs because he sometimes falls from his disability. They finally relented and gave us back our chairs. But not before we were told to leave them alone or else, he gave us our last warning??!! After my sister being called a most vulgar word that starts with the letter after B! Real class and a true gentleman. You must make your wife proud everyday!

But to get back to the good stuff.....we found the service to be impeccable, the crew as friendly and accommodating as ever.

As this was our 3rd time on the Summit, we only did a couple of shows (we've seen them) but did enjoy the martini bar, the casino, and the huge balcony of our penthouse.

Luminae was wonderful! Every meal better then the next. They did everything to please your palate and the service was top notch! They were very nice about mixing and matching things from the MDR menu and their own.

The sailing to and from Bermuda was the smoothest we ever encountered and at times it didn't even feel like we were on a ship. I did miss the rocking to sleep just a little.

Weather was fantastic the entire 7 days were filled with sunshine, although a bit hotter then I like, but 2 days on Horseshoe Bay made it bearable.

We met very nice people along the way and made some great new memories.

Shout out to ChucktownSteve! It was a pleasure meeting you and your Virginia and we enjoyed your visit to see our suite! Hope the rest of your cruise was wonderful!

From Capt Alex to Maya, the suite concierge, to our terrific waitstaff, and especially our butler, Judas, thank you for making this a really beautiful family vacation! Hope to do it again soon!

Good morning Debbie,

Thankx for the shout out and especially being so gracious to share your sailaway with us! I find it so unbelievable how anyone can treat you and your family that way. Y'all are so gentile and friendly! Fortunately I stayed away from the pool so we were not subjected to that. :D

I found a lot of rude people on this cruise...more so than any other cruise I've been on. Maybe because it was so crowded. You know like the experiments where they put too many rats in a cage? :p Or probably due to the short duration of 7 days.

Of course there were a lot of nice friendly ones as well. So that made up for the "rude northerners" ;) Overall we had a very good cruise.

I was told the ship is considered full (100% occupancy) when there are two people for every cabin. Then when you add a third or fourth that increases occupancy to more than considered full. But yes they must have a lifeboat seat for all souls on board.

One of the crew told me these last two sailings were the most booked of the entire Bermuda season.

PS we had a stowaway who's been on the ship the last four months. The bar staff named her Pina Colada. She stayed mostly on our balcony.

Here she was relaxing with my DW on the next chair prior to sailaway.

I just disembarked the Summit yesterday. When I started walking the pool area mid morning on the first sea day, I thought all the chairs had been reserved even though empty. Every one had a towel folded and draped over the chair's top.

I asked the pool butler and he said the draped towels were placed by them for guests and were not reserved. So about three fourths of the chairs were available but had towels on them. I learned something that morning.

Only the chairs where the towels were moved to the bottom portion or had other items were reserved.

What I don't get is why they can't put rules into place that full or half charters must be booked before bookings are open to the general public? If you're an organization that will be booking a couple thousand people, you must know well in advance that you're planning this.

Could it be that we book cruises long before the Charter people do because they don't have to? They get the ship regardless.

I am kind of surprised I do not see more mention of people on here using Nationwide travel insurance as they offer a cruise specific travel insurance at reasonable rates.

 

I have always used www.insuremytrip.com and found Nationwide listed on there a few cruises ago and have purchased it a couple times now. They have 3 choices that are cruise specific (also cover airfare and everything others do as well), but they offer benefits for missed ports/itinerary changes/shipboard service disruption and such. And on at least one if not two of the choices they offer a cancel for any reason for those that like that option as well as cancel for work reasons...

Do you have any claims experience yet with them or just the mental security of having the policy? That, IMHO, is the true test of any company's policy.

When I buy life insurance, I select a company that specializes in that category. Same with Homeowners or auto insurance. I never considered Nationwide because I've not heard positive follow-up experience after something happened. Don't they specialize in Homeowners/auto insurance or am I thinking of another company?

This has nothing to do with Nationwide, however I've come to believe that a cheap policy isn't worth the paper it's written on if there is a lot of grief collecting on a claim. Learned that lesson the hard way with TravelSafe who uses TripMate for claims.

Regarding the missed ports provision, that's not important to me. My first priority is medical in case something unexpected happens. Then cancellation/delay for out of pocket costs/expenses I can't get refunded. I can live with missing a port for whatever reason.

It's port, starboard AND mid-ship.