mnolan770

We recently completed a cruise with our two year old on Celebrity Infinity.  I posted this review on the Infinity Reviews board, but thought I would put it here too just in case anyone considering cruising on Celebrity with a young child had any questions.

For the past 8 years or so, Celebrity has been our go-to cruise line. While we have tried other lines, we always come back to Celebrity. Now we have a child and feel like our time with Celebrity may be over for a while. But since he is only 2 and can't participate in the children's programming yet, we decided to do one (possibly) final Celebrity cruise. I selected the Infinity due to the 5 day length and the room. The five days worked great for a first time cruise with our child. I wasn't sure how he would react to time on the ship. The second factor was the room. We booked room 7199 Family Verandah. This is a corner aft cabin with an extra large verandah. We loved the room. 

Pros: 

Staff - The staff throughout the ship were great. Most greeted us with smiles and many by name every time we saw them. Our son was greeted by name by many on the cruise. He really enjoyed the interaction with the crew. 

Food - We ate in the main dining room for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. For dinner we had Select dining. The food in the main dining room was good. Not over the top, but certainly better than we have experienced on other lines and consistent with our past experiences on Celebrity. They offered lobster on the formal night. The steak offered was a thin cut strip steak. Not my favorite. So if you want good steak, you should try Tuscan Grille. Breakfast service was good. The food was similar to what is offered in the buffet. But it was nice to have table service rather than fighting the lines at the buffet. Lunch was also acceptable. The service always seemed a bit chaotic at lunch, but certainly better than the buffet.

Disembarkation - Although we had a car seat, three pieces of luggage, two back packs and a two year old in tow, we did walk off. And due to doing immigration the day before in Key West, walk off was literally walk off. No wait at all. Just a flash of our passports and the room keys and we were done. 

Other passengers - The clientele on this cruise skewed to the older. We have cruised HAL several times and found the fellow passengers on this cruise in the same age range. While my wife and I are both 50, we certainly felt like the young ones. And having our two year old with us, we were concerned about how the older crowd may react. Other than an occasional snarky look, the interactions were great. Most of the older people seemed to enjoy having a well-behaved small child on-board. There were only 25 children on the cruise. And our son is too young to participate in the kids programming, so he hung out with mom and dad the entire cruise. Which meant he joined us for evening music before dinner in the Cellar Masters and the occasional pre-dinner martini at the Ice Bar.

Cons:

The negatives are few. The ship is showing some age. The sofas in our room seemed a bit worn. The shower was not as clean as I have experienced in the past on Celebrity. 

While this may be our last Celebrity cruise for a while, it's not due to the cruise line. It's just not tailored for children. But that's intentional and we understand. We will shift to Royal Caribbean and reserve Celebrity for the occasional child-free cruises we may do over the years.

Cabin 7199

The cabin provided plenty of storage, more than the 3 of us needed. It had two rooms divided by a sliding door. The first room is the main bedroom with plenty of space to get around. And the second room included two sofas a table, more storage, and second television. The verandah was enormous. I planned to take photos and videos, but never really got around to it. But search online and you will find videos and photos of this cabin.

mnolan:

Have you booked the Edge? Some of the early cruises are selling out. (disclaimer: I do not work for Celebrity)

We booked an S-1 for 02/17/19 on 03/18/17, five days after booking opened, and most of the S-1s were booked.

George

I haven't. We're on MSC in the fall. Will wait a bit before we book Edge.

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On the plane headed back to Atlanta. A good cruise. Many in this forum have complained about a decline in service from Celebrity. After cruising with Celebrity for years, I can't agree. I think the quality of the product was as good as it was when I first sailed with the line. Have their been changes? Sure. New CEOs are brought into companies to implement change. But I saw no negatives. Food in the main dining room was good. The three specialty restaurants we did were great to amazing. I found the wine choice on the premium package to be very good, but I'm no wine snob. The beer choice was good with the best choice being in cellar masters.

I am looking forward to trying Edge next year.

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Is Celebrity now letting may the extra for drinks not in your package?

 

 

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I was able to do this throughout the cruise. Premium cap is $13. There was a wine I looked that $14. I only paid $1.

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We are in St. Marteen today. Yesterday was St. Thomas. We typically book independent excursions. However, due to a large OBC, we decided to do cruise line bookings this time. Yesterday, we headed over to St. John for an island tour. The tour took about 90 minutes with a final drop off at Trunk Bay. The excursion person we booked with didn't mention that we would have to pay for a cab back to the ferry dock from the beach. Since we didn't bring a lot of cash with us, we passed on the beach and just stayed in the tour truck to be dropped back at the dock.

Once back at the dock, we went in the search for a BBQ place called the Barefoot Cowboy. It was actually very close to the dock. Unfortunately they did not accept American Express and that is the only card I carry. So we left there and had Mexican at a place in the Mongoose Shopping center. It was $52 for two taco​ plates and two beers. It would have been ok if it had been good. It wasn't.

We bought a few shirts at the Pig and Roost and grabbed the ferry back to the ship.

One back onboard, we stopped by the martini bar for a few drinks and then back to the room to get ready for dinner. We had dinner at The Porch. They have a great seafood menu for the $30 pp cover charge including lobster tail as part of the seafood platter.

Now it's time to enjoy St. Marteen. Headed to Orient Beach.

*Ignore typos, created on my phone and didn't check before publishing.

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Yesterday was a tough day. We had 16 foot seas making the ship very rocky. Many people, including staff, were complaining of seasickness. This is when having an aft cabin is not the best thing. It was really rolling in our room. We stayed in, ordered room service lunch, and slept most of the day.

In the afternoon, as things started to calm, we made our way down to deck five and enjoyed some​ gelato. It's very good and reasonably priced at $4 for two scoops and $6 for four.

We are the gelato sitting on the promenade deck with a lot of other sick passengers.

After that we made it way too Cellar Masters. This has to be the most under utilized bar on the ship. I think most people are afraid if the Enomatic wine machines (not included in any drink package). However they also have an extensive wine list and microbrews. Many of these come in under the $13 premium drink package cap. And for those that are over, you only pay the difference. I had a great glass of 2012 Atalon Cabernet for only $1.

For the beer folks, they had several Lagunitas brews including the Pils and a Little Sumpin Sumpin. There were a few Rogue beers also including an IPA. And then a lot of the regular beers you would expect, ie Anchor Steam, Stella, etc. They also had several hard ciders.

For dinner, we went to Qsine. This was our first time there. Unfortunately my wife had not fully recovered from earlier in the day and was forced to leave early. I stayed and enjoyed some amazing food. It really is a lot of fun. I would recommend this place. Once they realized my wife was not returning, they prepared chocolate covered strawberries for me to take back to her. Top notch service.

Today is mostly a sea day with a late arrival in San Juan. The seas are much more normal making a smooth ride.

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A few pics.

This is the view from our cabin.

The Alcoves. These can be rented by the day.

The Lawn Club Grill, a fee based restaurant.

The menu from the concierge class lunch on embarkation day.

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Tip of the day. Concierge and Select Dining passengers, check your voicemail in your room on day one. 30% off​ specialty dining on first night. We didn't book it, but seems like a pretty good deal.

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Have a wonderful cruise! We will be there April 9. Cannot wait!

 

Could you please find out if I can purchase a dining package for 3 specialty dinners on board or if I have to do it in advance of my cruise?

 

And, can I select the 3 restaurants as we will not choose Qsine?

Yes, you can purchase onboard. And you can pick the restaurants.

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Dinner was very good in the main dining room. It wasn't over the top, but very good. I had the shrimp Louis for a starter and the prime rib for entree. My wife had the escargot for starter and the ravioli for entree. The starters were very good. The entrees were just ok. The prime rib was good but a bit fatty. The ravioli was good, but cold. We passed on dessert and came back to the room to enjoy the view and turn in early.

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Boarding was a series of moving from one waiting area to another. But we're on board now and enjoying a glass of sparkling wine.

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Uber fail at the airport. The driver that picked up the ride was at port and didn't want to come to the airport. So I cancelled and sent the request again. Same driver. Same issue. Cancelled again and resent. Yep, you guessed it. Same driver. Cancelled before he called me and grabbed a cab.

Got to the port a bit early. No check-in signs were out. But we figured it out and are now in line behind 20 other people.

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Are you sure that flying in the day of the cruise is the best idea if you had to get up at 3:45 am??

 

Enjoy your trip, we'll be following

Would have preferred to have flown down last night, but we had a full day yesterday getting out son setup for his week. Advantage of flying down this morning is light traffic in Atlanta and at the airport. That said though, this plane is completely full. A lot of people headed to the cruise port.

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The morning is going well so far. Up at 3:45 am to catch our flight to FLL. On the plane now somewhere over Florida. Arriving in an hour.

We've cruised on the Solstice and Equinox in the past. Looking forward to checking out the few differences in the Silhouette from those two ships.

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Looking forward to your blog. Going on my first Celebrity cruise on the Silhouette in January.

I'm sure you will enjoy it. They offer a great vacation experience.

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I'm going to try to live blog this cruise. Hoping I can keep it up. So be sure to ask questions to keep me engaged.

It's Saturday night before the cruise departure. I'm sitting on the sofa in the living room of our Atlanta home. I need to start packing. My wife just ran out to the store looking for that perfect pair of black pumps.

Background: We're a late 40s couple that has cruised with Celebrity several times. Our last cruise was about three years ago. We put off cruising due to a move from Atlanta to Denver. Then we had a wonderful child and decided to move back to Atlanta. He's 14 months old now, so we decided it was time for a vacation. Our little guy is not traveling with us on this cruise. We just arrived home from my sister's home in north Alabama where he will spend the week. We're looking forward to a week with just the two of us although we will miss our little guy.

During this cruise, we're celebrating my wife's 49 birthday and our 18th wedding anniversary. The birthday just passed last week and the anniversary two weeks ago.

Now, to the cruise. We're leaving at 6:30 in the morning with an arrival in Fort Lauderdale at 8:30. Planning to take Uber to the cruise port and sit for a bit before they start boarding.

We're booked in an aft cabin just below the Sunset Bar. We have the "Best package". I think that's what they called it. In other words, we have the premium drink package, gratuities, wifi, and OBC.

So that's it for tonight. Gotta get started packing.

YOU HAVE THE BEST CABIN ON THE SHIP !

I hope you have it held. You usually have to book way ahead of time to get a YC2 or YC3 because there are so few of them.

We usually stay in 12001. The cabin next it is much smaller and is a connecting cabin to 12004.

The only reason we took a YC3 for later this month is that we are getting really old & it is a bit of a hike from the YC2 to the Top Sail Lounge on deck 15. You will be on deck 12. We will be right up the stairs from the lounge.

I definitely prefer the YC2 although no balcony, you will have floor to ceiling windows in both rooms with a fantastic view.

Leave the drapes open at night & you will be able to watch the sunrise from you bed.

Your bathroom will be twice the size of ours with a separate shower & tub plus 2 sinks.

You will have doulble the closet space and the dressing vanity table will be in its own space unlike the YC3 where it is in the bedroom.

Both of your rooms will also be bigger. They close off with solid doors so you really will not hear anything from the other room.

Thanks for the info. I did reserve that room. I wanted to make sure I got it before someone else. Looking forward to trying MSC and the Yacht Club.

We are flying into FLL on Sunday morning arriving at 8:30. After grabbing luggage and an Uber, I figure we could be at the cruise port by 10:00-10:15. Is this too early? Should I plan to go somewhere else first and then over to the cruise port later? I hate to lug our luggage all over Ft. Lauderdale.

We have done the same as you for the same reason. We are on Celebrity in a few weeks, but without our one year old. He will join us on Divina in November.

We booked a cabin in the Yacht Club for a few reasons.

1. The dining room in the YC offers mostly private tables.

2. The cabin we are in is a two room cabin. This will help with nap times for our son.

3. Bath tub for son's baths.

4. A few hours a day of childcare offered in children's area.

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After years of cruising mostly on Celebrity, we have taken the plunge on a YC2 cabin in the Yacht Club on Divina. After reading tons of reviews on the Yacht Club and more specifically on cabins 12001 and 12004, I couldn't pass it up. My wife and I have spent years cruising on Celebrity with a few other lines sprinkled in, including HAL and Royal Caribbean. However, now in our late 40s, we have a 1 year old child. Wanting to take him with us on a cruise, I started looking at lines that had infant/toddler programs. This narrowed my search down to RCL, Norwegian, and Disney. MSC only recently added a few hours a day of nursery care to their on-board experience. This new offering is what made me add MSC to the mix.

Traveling with our son on a cruise will create a new level of challenges. The size of the room offered, separate sleeping areas for successful nap times, bathtub, etc etc. Cabin 12001 seems to solve a lot of those challenges.

The 12001 cabin is a two room cabin that should ease the issue of nap times in the middle of the day. I'm really looking forward to the ship within a ship experience. We are cruising without our son on Celebrity in a few weeks. Then we will do MSC late in the year. Can't wait to compare these two experiences.

Thanks for the feedback. You all have made me confident in my decision.

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Thanks for the feedback.

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I haven't flown out of FLL in the past 5 or 6 years. We have driven from Atlanta to Ft. Lauderdale the past few cruises.

We are booked in a concierge class cabin on Silhouette. We are Global Entry trusted travelers which also includes TSA Pre check. And we typically walk off with our luggage.

Is there any reason I should not book a 10:30am flight out of FLL?

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Hard to say, will just depend on how it sells. Obviously you could pay whatever the going rate is for a suite now. Prior to final payment, if there are any price drops you can re-price (and accept booking terms and perks that are offered the). Post final payment is when people sometimes see huge price drops that allow them to upgrade for a small amount. But the suites could just as easily be sold out by then. There are websites that track cruise prices, would recommend you use that to keep an eye on price drops.

 

I've sailed on 3 cruises and have 2 more planned and haven't yet had a cruise where the price dropped significantly post final payment, in fact usually by final payment several room categories are sold out.

 

 

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Thanks. Will check out a tracking site.

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