Lightngsvt

Right now an A1 cabin is about $150 more then CC (not sure C1 or C2), is Aqua worth that upgrade?

Thanks, sounds like that might be a plan for next year. One thing I was told by a travel agent is that since we have experience with Celebrity and are used to the extra amenities that we may not be happy with HAL or Princess and recommended we stay with Celebrity or move up to "premium" tier cruise lines. Weird. But sounds like we'd have to go to a different line for a partial crossing.

WE were CC last year, so AQ would be a new experience. Is there a difference in decor/furniture between AQ and CC? The view to the rear of the ship was really nice, Im wondering if we miss that on a forward facing slant balcony cabin?

Wife and I are booking our 2nd cruise, last minute for late next month for eastern Caribbean. Last year we did the Silhouette on the western Carib and loved it. Since the target is to leave 3/22 or 3/23 the 2 best options seemed to be the Reflection (San Juan, St Thomas, St Maarten) or the Royal Princess (Princess Cay, St Thomas, St Maarten). I know we will love the Reflection as its a sister to the Silhouette and are familiar with the dining, cabin classes and amenities. However I don't know much about Princess above what the TA was telling me. The pics of the RP look beautiful but I'm not sure if being so new is a plus or minus (working out the bugs, etc). We are looking at AQ (A1) class or Mini Suite (MB) and they are within $50 PP of each other so cost isn't the deciding factor. What are the amenities, dining, etc like on the RP vs the Ref? How about balconies, nothing like breakfast on the balcony every morning! What about Princess Cay vs San Juan? Is PC a private island which basically means just a beach day? Do they have jet skis, snorkeling or scuba there? Any stingray or dolphin encounters on these islands? Thanks!

How would you rate a forward facing cabin on the "hump" (Deck 12 Reflection) compared to a standard midship cabin (deck 11 or 12)? We are looking to go on the Reflection 3/22 and looking at CC or AQ (AQ is only $20-150 more PP depending on how or with who we book). Last year we were in 2106 on Silhouette and loved the cabin. The cabin choices right now are:

AQ- 2106, 2120, 2146, 2148, 2140, 1567, 1569, 1573, 1577, 1579 (Im leaning towards 2148)

I think we did the Ultimate last year as we only ate one evening in the MDR. $30/day x7 = $210 which is generally a lot less than the advertised rates to upgrade. Qsine, The Lawn Club, Tuscan, etc were fabulous though I wasn t a huge fan of Murano honestly. Based on the replies it does sound like it would be worth trying AQ if the price was right to see for ourselves.

Not derail my own thread but do you feel the other amenities of AQ (or CC) are worth the upgrade? We did CC but Im not sure if we took advantage of many of the amenities.

Hello HAL afficionados. Looking for the nickel tour of all things HAL, specifically the Westerdam. Wife and I decided to do a last minute (late March) cruise for our anniversary, we did western Caribbean last year on Celebrity Silhouette for our 10th and loved it! IT seems that Celebrity has a more modern decor, more restaurants, etc. But HAL has a great reputation too and I stumbled onto a good itinerary that is better than what Celebrity is offering. Im not sure if the Westerdam would be the same class of ship as the Solstice class Celebrity ships?

How are the cabins / verandas? Overall decor? Activities? Ive seen some pics and they look very dated including CRT tube TV's in the cabins, would I be correct in assuming these are not current and the ship has been updated? How old is the Westerdam? Do you have to upgrade to a suite to get a room with a couch/love seat? Are there many differences in amenities between Veranda and suite?

KerryTens experience is exactly what I do not want to encounter. I wonder why / how there seems to be such a wide difference in experiences on St Kitts? Could it be time of year, # of ships in port that day, travelers who had been there vs first time visitors?

Not a fan of monkeys! Do they take no for an answer on St Kitts if you dont want to be showered with monkeys? That is the weirdest thing Ive ever said in my life I think. :)

Megans Bay is gorgeous, at least it was 20 years ago but Ive heard its the most crowded beach normally on St Thomas?

Last year we did specialty restaurants6 of the 7 nights. Im more worried about good food than healthy, but my wife wants to be able to at least have some healthier(-ish) options regardless of where we eat.

I guess my first post was a bit vague. I would love to do the Panama Canal, but more importantly want to do a southern itinerary without or without the canal. Does anything in the 7-9 day range go to the country of Panama?

The wife and I are looking to book a last minute cruise for our anniversary at the end of March. Right now looking like we'll do easter caribbean on the Celebrity Reflection. However I really want to do a southern cruise, especially the Panama Canal. Do any of the lines do 7 day cruise to the south, or are they all 11, 12 or 14 day trips? Im all for a longer trip but we just can't spare 2 weeks for a vacation right now. Might be able to squeeze out 8, maybe 9 days. Oh and we are looking to leave from the US, NOT one of the islands (I'm not real hip on flying over oceans yet).

Last year we cruised the Silhouette to the western caribbean and loved it! We were in Concierge Class and not sure we really took advantage of most of the amenities. We are looking at a last minute cruise in about 6 weeks to the eastern on the Reflection and are considering Aqua Class this time. The spa amenities sound nice, but Blu seems to be a nice bonus (we ate at the specialties every night except one last year).

I've good and bad reviews about Blu, what are the latest opinions? My wife has gotten more health conscious and is working out regularly and eating healthy and she is concerned about the cruise because of all of the amazingly delicious and unhealthy dining options. Is Blu really that much healthier than the MDR or other specialty restaurants? Will the MDR do lighter fare? Oh man Im not sure if Ill be able to skip the gelataria!

Holy cow that is alot of walking! I guess over the course of an entire day its not so bad, but wouldnt want to do it in one shot. So how many passengers are usually on the river cruises?

I read another post about the monkey's on St Kitts and that is really making me think St Thomas is the best bet. Did you get to any of the Beach's? I heard Coti Beach is a pretty nice place to go with good near shore snorkling and a bit more local "flavor". Anyway, thanks for your reply!

Seriously? They literally throw monkeys on you and demand money? What the.... Im not a huge fan of monkeys anyway, but that is cruel. Glad I read this as we were trying to decide between an itinerary that hit either St Kitts or St Thomas, well I guess St Thomas it is! If you did a tour or some other organized event would you avoid the monkeys?

Not sure if you are still planning but the wife and I (around 40) did the western caribbean last year on the Celebrity Silhouette and loved it. Im not sure exactly about the activities for kids but I know they have programs based on age and even have a special night club just for the young passengers. If you're into newer more modern and a bit upscale you will love Celebrity based on my experience. Also many bars, specialty restaurants, activities for adults and 3 pools (1 in a 16+ environment.). It been a long time I had cruised, about 20 years, but from my research its seems the cabin size on Celebrity is a little more generous than some other lines. We are about to book an eastern with Celebrity. However as mentioned, the southern itineraries sound amazing (maybe next year) especially something with a Panama Canal crossing. Best of luck on whatever you choose!

Which do you prefer and why?

Wife and I planning to do a relaxing 7 day eastern caribbean with Celebrity and they offer 2 options: San Juan, St Thomas, St Maarten -OR- San Juan, St Kitts, St Maarten. So 4 sea days and 3 islands seems like a nice mix of relaxation and island time. For a little background we are around 40, my wife loves being in the water, scuba diving, dolphin / sting ray encounters (we did that last year in Grand Cayman and it was fun), snorkeling, beaches, etc. Me, Im more into sitting on a beach or boat, jet skiing, ATV's, tours, local foods, etc. Oh and of course my wife loves shopping, especially for jewelry (she didn't exactly go home empty handed last year!).

About 20 years ago I was in St Thomas on a cruise and really only remember 2 things seeing Meagan's Bay (and wanting to go) and there was a lot of shopping in one area downtown, especially jewelry.

Wow, wish we had the time to cruise twice a year! :) It seems to me that the river cruises attract a different crowd, what is an average age range? Im not sure if thats hard to answer or not? I know with ocean cruises it depends on the line, length and time of year that determines the typical age of the passengers.

Oh wow, Carnival has Cunard too? Who'da guessed that? :) Some of the Around the world cruises on Cunard look very nice though!

Good info, sounds like mostly good experiences on Princess. So what are the newest ships, I was a big fan of the Silhouette last year but I should probably be open to trying smaller ships too. The biggest thing that has me looking outside of Celebrity is their very limited itineraries, Princess and HAL seem to definitely have Celebrity beat there. So are Princess and HAL part of the same line? I started looking at HAL and the cabins / layout seem very similar to Princess. How do HAL and Princess compare?

Thanks for your replies, they are very helpful. We just started our "cruise life" last year with a cruise on the Celebrity Silhouette last March for our 10th anniversary, it was my wifes 1st but my 4th cruise. We are planning another caribbean the end of next month. She loves to travel and sight-see and Im just getting into some real travel. Im 41 now so I hope to have many years of travel/cruising ahead to enjoy both ocean and based on your reviews river cruising too.

So do you spend all day in port unlike the ocean cruise where your in port for 5-8 hours. Is there any entertainment besides dinning on the river ships? Do they still have veranda cabins?

We only ate in the MDR one time, so thats not a big concern for me. Much prefer the specialty restaurants. We didnt get to eat in Blu but Ive heard almost all good reviews. We stayed in Concierge Class, Aqua was sold out.

The idea of the river cruise is starting to intrigue me, Im thinking it could be a possibility in maybe a year or 2 from now. How do the river cruises compare to something like a Caribbean cruise? How are the ships, amenities, cabins and dining? What about destinations, how do they differ form a typical island stay?

Im afraid that we might have been spoiled by Celebrity, I really had zero complaints. Well the only thing is their caribbean itineraries seem a bit basic. Princess' seems to have slightly better itineraries. Who would be comparable but hit some of the more "exotic" ports?