Zoedokey

Aw, Mickey was one of our favorite parts of our Alaska cruise. If you get on his ship, you are lucky indeed. We are nature fans though, and prefer somewhat active vacations though, so our styles fit well.

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But, but, but, it's THEIR vacation, so they can wear whatever they want, no matter how appropriate it is to the situation. Just ask them. ;--p

I think a button up flowered shirt is quite appropriate for dinner.

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My husband and I did an Alaska cruise on the Infinity for our 25th. It was very special. We did some fantastic private excursions, highly recommended.

When I give an additional gratuity to my stateroom attendant (or any other crew member) I place it, along with a personal note of thanks, within a sealed envelope with the person's name on it. I hand the sealed envelope directly to the intended crew member the day before disembarkation. In this way, I know the intended recipient has the envelope, and I've given them the opportunity to open it at a time when they have privacy. Though I often receive thanks, I don't expect or require it.

 

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This is exactly what we do. I find tipping a bit awkward but so appreciate the efforts of hard working crew, that we are happy to leave extra. The crew member has always said thank you and tucked the envelope away in a pocket (or at the Martini bar,in the tip bowl) to look at later. I wouldn’t want them them to mention it again.

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When you read Celebrity's policy it does mention having a waiver. However the 2 times I've sailed w/ my niece who is under 21 they have denied it. The first time I asked about it and was told no. The second time (this March) I didn't ask but upon check-in once they verified her age they agent asked if I wanted to allow it and I said yes. But then just to be sure she went and check and was told no. So not sure why they even have it in the written policy if they deny it every time.

 

However (I'm sure I'll get flamed for this) if the parent/guardian chooses to get them a drink it can happen. As long as they aren't out of control a lot of bar servers/sommeliers turn a blind eye. My niece was drinking some of my wine at dinner and the last night as we were leaving the MDR he filled up both my glass and the empty one for her. I've seen other parents just give their kids their card to get drinks at night. Some bartenders will allow it and others will deny them.

Where is this policy? My daughter will be a month shy of 21 on our next cruise. If they ask me if they can serve her I will say yes. If they won't serve her, that will be fine too, we will have wine in the cabin she grab a glass of.

Ick, I always bring my own pillow. It is a latex foam pillow and squishes right down to pack. Those pics are gross. When items become stained like that, Celebrity needs to get rid of them and replace them with new stuff. No excuse to put that on a guest's bed.

This looks pretty darn good! Are Café Bacio on all ships? We're on the Summit.

Yes, Cafe el Bachio is on every ship.

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We did an outside cabin for our Alaska cruise and would book this way again. We spent a lot of time on deck and in the forward lounge with the naturalist on board and on our own, so the balcony would have been wasted. The money we saved we spent on fabulous excursions, float plane, small boat trips, whale watching. Excursions in Alaska are expensive (book private for sure) so that is what we splurged on.

Wow, how in the world do they get a way with that? And how are they actually transporting people to Quincy Market?

For us, specialty restaurants are not worth the price. We enjoy the regular dining venues and don't feel the need to spend another 100 a night on dinner.

So our upgrade from classic to premium will be 14 a day.

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Love these pics. We are scheduled on the Infinity again this December. Have they fixed the sewage smell that seems to permeate the lower decks yet? Hoping they may have taken care of that during the recent quickie dry dock.

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I just logged into my cruise, and of course it says the booking is locked for twenty minutes. I figure it will locked for the next few days at least. What a joke.

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That’s a great price, which sailing?

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Deserts are much better at the Cafe. We usually skip desert in the MDR and OVC,

Knowing that Scallops Rockefeller were on the menu and they only served one we ordered three up front. If one wanted a dozen they would have supplied a dozen

A dozen scallop shells? No thanks. We had no idea they were running out of scallops until the shell arrived with the one tiny scallop on it. It wasn't even one full bite of food. Like I said, we laughed about it, it was quite funny.

I have seen other people's photos of this appetizer and there were three or four scallops on the shell. On our cruise they just ran out of them and didn't want to remove them from the menu. Honestly I don't know our waiter actuslly served them with a straight face. LOL.

We were generally pleased with the food on our last Infinity Cruise. There were a couple of things that weren't good, and one night they brought one scallop for the scallop appetizer. Literally a scallop shell with one tiny scallop on it. We had a good laugh at that one. Mostly though we were pleased.

At the buffet some things were good and some I had one bite and was done.

Oh my gosh, that’s funny. We did room service breakfast just once on our last cruise as we had an early excursion. It was not good, everything was cold and some items incorrect. We won’t make that mistake again.

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My D will be a month shy of 21 for our December cruise. We will bring wine for her if she wants to pour herself a glass in the cabin. I have heard that they may or may not serve her at a bar if we are with her and honestly it doesn't really matter as she doesn't really care if she can be served a glass or not.

I wonder if there was time in this dry dock to fix the sewage issues the Infinity has.

I hope people reading this decide they don't need travel insurance because Celebrity will let them rebook anyway. This is a rare thing.

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It’s funny how offended some posters are because some random person on the internet said they were changing cruise lines. If Celebrity doesn’t deliver what a cruiser wants and they decide to try something new, that’s great for them. I truly hope all passengers find what they are looking for while vacationing. I’m not sure what people who are berating this poster wish to have happen. This board is so strange sometimes.

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Celebrity beats NCL by a long shot with food and enrichment speakers.

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I get that it may be good pay for their home country, but as someone who can afford to cruise, the small amount we pay in tips means much more to crew than it does to me. I think I need to up my extra gratuities. I am glad this was discussed on this thread as it really will effect my behavior going forward.

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I have been reading this full thread from the start and it got me thinking.

 

A full S class ship, say 2,850 passengers. Average daily gratuities / service charge is $14. One day receipts totals $39,900, so over a week this is just under $280,000. Assuming two thirds of the crew are in for a share of this they will receive in excess of $300 each week of just tips. Add on top of that all the extra dollars that so many people say they tip with every drink, and every interaction with crew, I believe they are earning more than a meagre wage.

 

 

If I am working this out wrong I am sure someone will let me know, but it seems to me that assuming the company is also paying a wage, however small, and providing bed and board the remuneration is not bad at all even taking into account some passengers removing gratuities it is surely made up by those handing out dollar bills.

300 a week for 80 hours of very difficult work. Wow, that’s a terrible wage.

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