Emmee D

An over zealous TSA guy insisted that DW had scissors in her bag and was actually a little rude. After being proven wrong, he offered no apology. Your tax dollars at work folks ;) Check in was quick and there was no waiting for the bus to the ship.

 

My comments: Thanks for the review. Very interesting. One small error though, these are not TSA guys at the ship, they are "square" badges or regular security guards, don't trash the TSA because of these guys.

 

Mike

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

We assumed TSA (I thought they worked cruise ship security as well) but whoever they are, they need to tone down the attitude. Guy was beyond rude and there was no reason for it. (I'm jstraw's wife). Thankfully, the RCI staff made up for it. Got us checked in and on the ship in no time and everyone we came in contact with at the terminal was very pleasant to deal with.

Richard Spacey is now Manager of Entertainment, Activities and Family Strategy Development for Celebrity Cruises in their corporate offices in Miami, working alongside Becky Thompson. Richard will be CD on the Celebrity Summit Oct 21 - Nov 29, and it seems he is going back to ship life on Celebrity.

 

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Oh, happy day! I hope this is true. He was the CD for 2 of our cruises and I thought he was terrific. We've been thinking about giving Celebrity a try so now there's even more reason to! :)

and to add to the list -

 

What do you do with itineraries where there is a preferred side on that sailing such as the Alaskan ones? How many posts have been here on CC asking which side of the ship do I need to be on to see xxx or yyyy. Who gets that side of the ship? The smokers or non smokers?

 

I know there are more, but as yogimax stated, sounds good but once you dig into it, it is a logistical nightmare.

I never said that they should fix it so one side was for smokers only. My point was that having the option might be an idea (i.e.: no smoking at all on any balconies for cabins on the "X" side. If you would like the option to be able to smoke on your balcony, book your cabin on the "Y" side). That's why I said similar to the rule about smoking on the port side only on the outdoor decks. No one would be prevented from seeing anything except by their own choice.

But yeah...logistics probably would be a nightmare. Don't know if they could figure out a way to make it work.

I've never had smoke from the stacks of any of the ships I have been on come down to my balcony area. In general smoke rises and with the height of a ships stack, exhaust smoke will go up and aft if the ship is moving.

I guess it depends on where you are & how the wind's blowing. I came out onto my balcony one morning on our last cruise & thought we were in a light fog but it was smoke from the stacks. And it smelled awful. lol No, it wasn't pouring down thick smoke on our balcony, but the wind must have been blowing in such a way that some got close enough that we could see/smell it.

I've gotten a big whiff of stack smoke a handful of times on ships and for me, I'd rather have 10 smokers in a circle around me puffing away.

Sure they'll cell e-cigs & supplies if there's money to be made. But as shown by the current situation with cigarettes, selling them is entirely separate from restrictions on where they may be used/smoked aboard.

True.... no doubt the botton line ($$) is a major factor. I wonder what would happen if cruisers who smoke decided to purchase their cigarettes, etc. in ports rather than on the ship? I know that's what I've done with businesses that I've had a bad experience with.... my wallet and I go elsewhere.

Just posing a hypothetical. Not trying to start a boycott or anything. Of course, RCI could just turn around & stop selling them, I guess. As long as I can get my duty-free rum, I'm happy. :D

The cruise ship is not unlike many offices in the U.S. Here in Florida, you are not allowed to smoke inside an office building. So smokers take a break, ride an elevator to the ground floor, exit the building and smoke.

 

How is that any different than asking a smoker to get on the ship's elevator, go the port side of the pool deck and enjoy a smoke?

Right...the whole idea is that smokers have to go outside to smoke. (I'm in NYC...smoking indoors in public places, offices, hotels, etc. has been banned here for ages)

As I said in my post, my issue is not with limiting/prohibiting smoking indoors. I don't have any issue with that. When you're on a balcony, you're not indoors anymore, you're outside...same as if you're on the port side of a ship.

Its just an observation on my part, nothing more. Sure, non-smokers shouldn't have to deal with cigarette smoke on thier vacation if they don't wish to. But I think smokers have a right to enjoy as well without being treated like pariahs, especially since they pay the same fare that non-smokers do. That's why I think that banning smoking on balconies is a little excessive.

Its a shame that when RCI put this rule into play, they didn't follow the "port-side only" guideline like they have with smoking on the outdoor decks. At least then you'd know which side of the ship to consider booking a cabin on and there would probably be less friction between smokers and non. IMO, that might have been a fair compromise for all passengers. But it is what it is.

Is that a bad thing?

If a smoker pays the same fare as a non-smoker and is made to feel like a second-class citizen, then yes... it is.

I'm all for limiting smoking in indoor areas...fair compromise for all involved. But outdoors on balconies? If you're standing on your balcony, you're inhaling way more dangerous stuff from the smoke belching out of the stacks on the ship than you ever could from a cigarette.

The new rules strike me as kind of unfair.

So many wonderful tips in this thread! We're leaving on EOS next week and I know I'll be using a bunch of them.

The one that I can offer (sorry if this has been covered already) is that if you're particular about your shampoo/conditioner or if you need to use a specific brand/type for whatever reason, bring your own. The showers have a dispenser of an all in one shampoo/conditioner/body wash and it wreaked absolute havoc on my hair on our first cruise. I was able to buy a bottle of conditioner in one of the ports that did the trick, and now I always pack a bottle of my own.

What they supply in the showers isn't bad.. I used it as shampoo and body wash, but needed a more intense conditioner. my hair is thick, coarse and wavy and goes from "looking good" to "bird's nest" if I don't use a serious conditioner, especially out in the sun & in & out of salt water all during the cruise.

9 more days.