ricka47

(Excuse me for pointing out the obvious here but...) You can make any day a sea day! In fact, choosing to stay on the ship can be unbelievably relaxing. You get the pool deck practically to yourself! The buffet is refreshingly uncrowded... it's quite lovely! I intentionally pick cruises that stop in St. Thomas sometimes so I know I can have a "stay at sea day" if I so choose. Choose an island you've seen before or are less interested in shore excursions on and stay by the pool. I highly recommend it! :cool:

Excellent point! We love sea days except for the fact that everyone is on board. So, if we are in Nassau, Cozumel or Jamaica we usually stay on board and the whole ship is ours. It's fun to watch other ships come and go as well as all of the other activities going on at the port - try it!

Good to hear - we'll be on the Equinox in early July and I know that we'll have warm weather!

Depending on what size and style of ship you like, the difference between the two has become minimal over the past few years.

 

OMO

 

bosco

Every cruise is different and every cruiser has differing opinions based on many things and what they like and don't like. We used to say that Celebrity was a fairly large step above RCI - mostly for the food. After our last cruise on the Eclipse we'd have to say that X is just 1/2 step above RCI (overall) now. In some cases, such as the Diamond Lounge access on RCI, X would be a step down for us. We'll see if that changes after our July cruise on the Equinox.

The addiction for us is less about the cruise line and more about the loyalty status. We finally made Diamond on RCI (Elite on X) and, all things being equal, would rather have the benefits of that (meager as they may be) rather than being a "nobody" on another line.

Right - I did it a few times because I like to have things all set up ahead of time. But, in this case, there is no advantage at all.

I have really had my fill of acrobats hanging from curtains. :o

That is funny - while I appreciate the talent of these performers, I have seen enough of them.

On the subject of standing ovations, many appear to be too easily impressed or bought the premium drink package (or both).

I completely agree with the OP. We were on Reflection from the 24th - 31st December and have never experienced anything as bad with Celebrity as we did on this cruise. Our biggest complaint was the food. The MDR food was absolutely dire! Cold food, waiters rushed off their feet, waiting for a long time between courses, I could go on but you already get the picture. There were no offers prior to sailing for the specialty restaurants with it being the "Christmas" cruise however after paying top $ for Tuscan on Christmas Eve, we vowed we wouldn't return. The change in menu and the quality of the food was just not worth the spend anymore. Close to the end of the week, they were offering deals on the Specialty restaurants, I'm sure they had to just to get people through the door but we voted with our feet and chose to eat in the Ocean View Café several times as we felt it was the only place where we might just get reasonable food!

We are Elite with Celebrity and it is a shame to give up on a cruise line when you've cruised with them so often however for 2017, with the exception of a cruise on Royal's Anthem of the Seas to Canada & New England which has been booked for a long time, we're giving cruising a break after cruising at least 4 times a year since 2010. Not sure where we'll end up but there's a holiday out there for us somewhere.

The food in the MDR was somewhat of a disappointment to us as well on our Christmas cruise on the Eclipse in 2015. We hadn't sailed X since 2008 and remembered that the food was such a step up from RCI.

We had the same bread every night, the menu items were limited and, while I still gained my required amount of pounds, we really had no dinners in 9 nights that we would say were great. A few months later, we were on the Vision of the Seas and we enjoyed the food more.

We're somewhat loyal to RCI/X just because we finally made Diamond/Elite. But, we also sail DCL when Florida resident rates are available. We're open to other cruise lines (except for Carnival) if the price and timing work out for us.

I totally agree with the above. One thing to be aware of--at least on some Celebrity ships' date=' there is a restaurant (Blu) which is only for concierge level guests. I've seen it posted that since they opened this restaurant, much of their effort is being directed here with some neglect of the MDRs.[/quote']

 

Blu is for Aqua Class level only although suite guests can eat there if there is availability. (We're in AQ for the first time on our July cruise on the Equinox.) But, for the cost, there is little comparison between DCL and X (or even RCI). We love Disney, but DCL charges too much for the "pixie dust factor." So, we only sail DCL when we can get the Florida resident discounts and stick to RCI or Celebrity otherwise.

PS I just went ahead and used it for a discount from the price that I already had which seems to me to be a better way to go.

Thanks for the information - this might not be as good of a deal as I thought. It may be best to just use the credits for OBC or a discount instead.

We have enough points to redeem a 5 - 7 night cruise for two. When I log into the redemption site I can put the cruise into the shopping basket and then it asks for my information. But, does this book the cruise or should the cruise be booked first and then the points applied. Has anyone done this before?

For many fly in cruisers or local cruisers, Miami is OK, but I would only use the Miami port if a travel agency's bus was taken me there, if not I WILL NEVER USE MIAMI's port.

We try to avoid MIA if we can. But, when we sailed on the Eclipse in 2015, we stayed at a hotel near the airport and it was an easy drive to the port, parking was convenient and embarkation and disembarkation went well. So, we really had no issues and will be doing the same thing in July for the Equinox.

We tried hiding under the bed once - but they heard me sneeze!

Would have liked the Equinox or one of the other Solstice Class ships to sail out of Port Canaveral. They have much better facilities than either the Port of Miami or Port Everglades.

I would like to see this as well as the port is very nice and a shorter drive for us in NE Florida. They had the Zenith out of JAX for a few years but that didn't last long - 2003 to 2005, I think. Now, it's just Carnival - so we keep driving to Tampa, Port Canaveral, FLL or MIA.

This is not a big deal. But, I have to wonder about the logic of offering this perk to a class that is one step lower than AQ while AQ goes to the buffet?

Great - thanks for the info!

Here's a picture of the Concierge embarkation lunch menu.

 

 

I was seated in a section that had a low ceiling. I was expecting a loud dining experience at night as we had on the Summit before going to Blu but I didn't notice the sound bouncing around.

 

I waited until the long line of those waiting for Select dining to diminish. Then was seated right away. I had the Prime Rib. It was rare as ordered. Nothing wrong with dinner but nothing memorable either.

 

The cruise director is Damian De Lorenzis. Because I awoke at 5:30 the morning of sailing with 1.5 hours drive to the port from the hotel I stopped at, I was tired and didn't do the show. The entertainer was David Guidice but that's all I know.

 

I had asked for an egg crate topper before trying the bed. The cabin attendant didn't add it. Maybe he didn't have one but I was surprised how good the bed slept without it.

 

The lobby is decorated tastefully for Christmas. I'll try and take a pic or two.

 

I like the elevator banks overlooking the atrium with a lot of light coming from above. There are actually groups of elevators on both sides of the atrium. That makes for a much more interesting ride.

 

I'm looking forward to breakfast in a few hours. It will be interesting to see how they set up the different stations in the buffet you can walk around instead of just standing on one long line waiting behind someone who can't make up their mind. :)

Is there a special lunch for Concierge instead of just the normal offerings on embarkation day? We're in AQ (first time) on the Equinox in July.

Does Blu have a separate vegetarian menu available besides the regular menu?

If they are going to change things back (which I would doubt since they trend seems to be in the direction of more casual) they should make it more well known.

In that case, I guess that we had our hopes up for nothing anyway. We'll still do a tie/dress number, but I'll probably leave the jacket at home.

 

Thank you for the insight.

As much as I do miss the days when, on formal night, the evenings were just that - formal, it may not make a lot of sense on a Caribbean cruise to dress up the way that we used to. Yet, like so many things, new is not always better.

We're actually bummed a bit at the change. We would have at least like to go to one of them, but since our first cruise is in January, that won't happen now.

 

Since even for formal nights, there were other dining options, I don't quite grasp the issue. Dressing up at all is only fun when those around you do the same.

 

The more logical step would have been to dedicate one of the smaller venues as formal only for a night to remove the idea that the main dining option isn't welcoming.

 

EDIT: and for the record, we're both in our late 20s

The trouble with that is that, lately, we've been dressed up and the folks at the table next to us considers formal to be turning his baseball hat around instead of wearing it backward. So, we have mixed feelings on this. Last year, we were on the Oasis for Christmas and there were still a few in tuxedos besides me on Christmas Eve. We'll be on the Eclipse this Christmas and, as of today, I will be leaving the tux (and my red Christmas bow tie) in the closet.

Right - I checked this morning and, up until about 10:00, the trip was about 20 minutes and after that, it dropped down to 15. So, that will be great - thanks!

Homewood is free parking. So, that's a plus.

Thanks for the response. I am down to my last 30,000 points and most of the downtown hotels are higher than that. But, I'll check out that Hampton. I don't miss all the travelling before I retired but I do miss my points and Diamond status. Now I'm a Hilton "nobody" again. 15 minutes is no big deal - thanks!