Chewbecca

Be aware that (on Eurodam currently at least) there are peanuts in every bar, being spilt on the floor / surfaces. 

We sail both lines, last cruise was X, next on HAL.

For me:

Food is slightly better on HAL

Entertainment slightly better on X although trivia is better on HAL

Packages much better on HAL

Itineraries better on HAL

HAL has a fab, reasonably priced laundry service 

Speciality restaurants are better on HAL, partly because the cost is better

Bars are better on HAL Vs Edge class. More similar to M class (which I prefer in terms of bars, lounges and layouts)

Luminae is my favourite restaurant of all, no comparable on HAL

Rooms very similar between the two lines depending on age / refurb status.

I like to sail all different lines to mix it up a bit! Azamara this year and Oceania planned for next. Wasn't a fan of MSC YC. 

We got off Infinity on 28th and were also pleasantly surprised. Yes, she is dated but it was still a great cruise. Food and service was excellent, plus a great itinerary and weather. I like the M class layout, it feels spacious with nice bars and lounges. 

We were disappointed with the live music but that's not the ship's fault! The music was dreary on the whole and too 'international' for my British taste. There's only so many merengues I need to hear. 

Anyway, we were told the dry dock had been cut short and is now only a routine maintenance stop. New cruises have been added to the gap - anyone for Greece in Jan / Feb?! 

We are in a SS on Infinity right now, we usually sail in a regular verandah (most recently on Silhouette in June). Luminae has been really excellent, as had Michael's lounge. We are unsure we will rebook on Celebrity only because we can't afford suite prices all the time and don't want to go back to MDR. This cruise was a good price, probably because of Infinity's condition which does show but it hasn't stopped the food, service, room, itinerary & weather being fabulous. 

June / September for me.

May would be my next choice.

October can be glorious but could be rubbish. 

July and August - too hot and too busy. 

The food is better than MDR but also the ambiance and service. It's slower and feels more celebratory. 

We like both Murano and Tuscan Grille on Eclipse. Tuscan is in a great location at the rear of the ship so a window seat there on a sunny evening is particularly fabulous. It's not an Italian as we (in the UK) know it, we treat it as a great steak house. 

We sailed on Virtuosa in YC during COVID (so not necessarily a usual trip). We liked YC but found the rest of the shop horrid, with one exception - the taco speciality restaurant which was quiet, good value and really tasty and I would highly recommend! 

We are completely disloyal to any cruise line and sail with many different lines at all different levels. Our next cruise is in one week on Azamara (our 3rd Az) but our first time in the OS so really looking forward to trying that.

We have sailed on Seabourn once and really loved the cabin, the service and food. We didn't enjoy the entertainment though, we mostly enjoy trivia and live music and both were really lacking so we probably wouldn't do Seabourn again. 

Our next two bookings are with Celebrity (we are X regulars, this time in the Retreat) and HAL (less luxurious but we feel very at home on HAL & the trivia and live music is good!).

The next booking is likely to be a great Amazon itinerary on Oceania, we have only sailed once on Oceania but would definitely go again. I'd like to try their slightly larger ships.

We have also sailed RC (not for us), Princess (no major issues but didn't feel at home), MSC (we were YC which was nice but the rest of the ship was awful). I can't remember who else!

Would like to try Windstar, Star Clippers, Viking and Saga. Silversea and Regent are probably beyond our budget. Plus the American river cruise lines are also on our radar.

Yes, Southampton. 

I didn't know that, we usually sail from Florida. 

Good news! Thank you!

We're boarding Silhouette today and have the Classic package.

I was browsing the wine lists and everything that used to be $9 now seems to be $11 - prosecco and french rose for e.g. I can't see any cocktails either.

Is anything available on the Classic package without paying an upcharge any more?

Thanks very much for this heads up!

I just came onto CC to see if I could find out how to purchase bottles of wine in the dining room as we have our first non drinks package cruise coming up. Instead, we bought the discounted package! It is £44pppd for Brits. 

No world cup matches being shown on Oosterdam currently. Apparently the company hasn't 'bought the feed'.  It's very disappointing! 

Hi Bill - sorry you have been having issues. I heard (from the head chef at the cooking demo) there are 1680 passengers on board so around 300 short of full capacity but their largest number since restarting.

We found a solution to the kindle / internet problem - I created a hotspot on my phone and was able to connect the kindle to that.

Our room stewards (deck 5) have provided the same service as we are used to, didn't realise we had been lucky. We have also found excellent service in the bars (sea view pool, lido, billboard & rolling stone lounge), with plenty of staff. Entertainment is on the weaker side but I expect that with HAL! The RS lounge is very lively every evening. There was initial chaos getting into the MDR but it seems largely sorted now.  We have found the food there to be excellent and the drink service in the MDR is better than we have ever experienced, really fast and consistent.

On Oosterdam currently and there have been waits of up to 30mins for open dining, whereas the fixed dining space is half empty. Seems they may have over sold the Open option and should have ensured more passengers were on fixed. There are many tables for 2 in the fixed dining area so it doesn't have to be sharing. 

We don't mind the wait, we pick up a buzzer and go for an aperitif but if you are someone who doesn't like a wait, fixed would be a much better option on this trip & some cruisers are switching.

Got excited for a minute but checked and disappointingly ours is still enhanced! (19 Nov Oosterdam). Without HAL providing at port, it’s even more of a pain for non US citizens to organise.

Yeah, the price of the ‘horizon suite’ was over £12k for the 7 night cruise I was looking at, for 3 adults. A verandah (for 2) and an inside (for 1) was about £4k for the cruise or 3 in a regular verandah around £3k. I know the FV is in retreat and includes other perks but, No, way too ££! Previously we stayed in the FV for a little more than staying in a regular verandah. 

The name change has gone into effect on the website for 2023 bookings.

Ah, ok, thank you, I was just unlucky then that my itinerary of choice was Silhouette!

18 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

are you thinking of the sunset 

16 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

are you thinking of the sunset suite?

No. What was FV on Silhouette is now called ‘Horizon suite’.

Ok, my question would be better worded as:

’do you know which ships still have FV cabins?’

Silhouette does not. 

I don’t know what carimart is! But this is an X question…
 

We have sailed in FV (family veranda) cabins on celebrity in the past. I can see those cabins have been converted to ‘horizon suites’ in the retreat on Silhouette & cost more than double now. Wondering if the FVs on the other ships have also been converted or if they still exist on any of X’s ships as we were hoping to snag one next year. It’s not an easy question to answer on X’s website.

Just that really!
 

TIA.

They would need to have two bands on board to cover both the blues and rock sets.

I’m more disappointed about the loss of ATK in that venue.

Trying to book an excursion for a November cruise and get an error message saying there seems to be an issue with this excursion, see the SE office for more info.

Any idea what this means?