Lsimon

I have been poolside watching crew, including security crew, stand by as young boys somersaulted into the 4 ft depth water with adults sitting at said pool drinking beer out of bottles. Crickets. ..

I'm having trouble figuring out if you're criticizing the kids, the adults drinking beer or both.

I did this years ago. Discussed it with the butler and made a request for snacks, beverages and glassware. They set everything up in advance for a before dinner party and everything was cleaned up when we returned from dinner. Worked out great.

Included in cruise fare: Tap water, Brewed coffee (regular and decaf), instant coffee (taster's choice regular and decaf), Tea (good selection of about 8 or more popular tea blends including green, mint, etc), hot coca (Nestles instant mix), Milk (regular, chocolate and skim), juices, iced tea, lemonade, fruit punch.

All of these items are available in any dining area. They are available 24/7 from beverage stations in the buffet area although some items are not available at all times in the buffet: Some milks are only available during meals in the buffet and the dispensers used for juices during breakfast times are used for iced tea, lemonade and punch at other times.

For the most part there is an extra charge for any alcoholic, carbonated, or bottled beverage. Also most bars and lounges charge for any beverages served there. There are upscale versions of many no-extra-charge beverages available which do cost extra such as espresso based coffees, organic teas, bottled water, fresh squeezed OJ, etc.

Personally, I'd recommend holding off on a package until you determine if you need one.

If at restaurants you like very basic house wine type of wines then you'll be fine. If you're a bit picky, but would still order wines by the glass at a restaurant rather than a slightly more expensive wine that comes by the bottle only then you'll be fine with the premium. If you really enjoy variety in wines and pay attention to the label, type of wine and the vinyard or bottler then you'll do best by forgoing the package wines and buying wine by the bottle from the wine list on the ship. Packages generally offer a discount on wines by the bottle but they are not usually included at no extra charge.

As others have said, US Currency is accepted at all the Caribbean Islands on your cruise. In fact it's been accepted at every other Caribbean Island I've been to.

Both San Juan and St. Croix are US territories so the US Dollar is their official currency. Barbados has it's own currency (the Barbados dollar) and all the other ports on your cruise use the Eastern Caribbean Dollar as their local currency.

I would encourage you to bring a supply of small bills with you with the idea that using smaller bills will limit the amount of change you get back. You might also find that vendors on some islands won't take older ratty looking money. This isn't their choice but is based on what their banks will accept. Also, if you do use a credit card the charge may likely be processed in local currency which also means that your credit card company will add a foreign purchase fee if they have one.

....Needless to say I just walked out. Don’t need to pay a ridiculous price to be insulted by Spa staff.

I totally agree. I don't know if they still have "Attention to Detail" cards at guest relations, but you should ask if they can give you one and use that to let the officers on the ship know what happened. If they don't have these then I'd just write a note explaining the issue, put it in an envelope addressed to the "Hotel Director or Assistant" and drop it off at Guest Relations.

Not unusual. I've run into this for years, even had one once shared with passengers from Mein Shiff - a ship of a European cruise line in which Royal Caribbean is a partner. There is just one department that plans and manages excursions for both Celebrity and Royal Caribbean, so this is not surprising.

 

My kids have ordered beer and wine on cruises since they were mid-teens and I've never had a waiter question them about age. Occasionally the waiter would look at me for the ok and a nod from me was all that was required. We typically order bottles of wine at dinner and the kids drank that too without any issues. They are always with us and it always went on my card. From my experience, as long as the parent is there they will serve the drink.

 

So...you allow your teens to drink beer and wine? If you were to do so in your home in the US, you would be criminally liable, and you would be civilly liable for any damage to persons or property that harmed while intoxicated.

Fish Lover your answer is incorrect in most states. This does vary state to state but most states in the USA allow parents to serve their own children alcoholic beverages at home when at least one parent is present. Some states also allow minor children to be served at establishments, such as bars and restaurants, as long as a consenting parent is present.

If you don't believe me then try an internet search on the subject.

Still not working, but I believe the problem lies with Comcast, not your link. I tried your link from a March 2013 post with the same result.

Sorry everyone. The hosting site at Comcast where I had my cruise documents was eliminated by comcast a couple years ago when they stopped including hosting service for home customers all together.

I do have photos of the old coffee menu from 2012 added to my photo site at:

But I have to say that after nearly 5 years the photos and my comments on the beverage packages may not be current any longer. Unfortunately I've not been able to cruise for several years and my information might no longer be current in many cases - which is why I've dropped my level of activity on this forum.

My best advice is to not sweat the small stuff ahead of time. There will be time for figuring out stuff like this on board and I'd found that rules about things like this change from time to time and that due to differences in interpretation they were different from ship to ship in any event.

Happy Sailing

OMG! I haven't been able to cruise for a few years, but I'm still aghast that they've eliminated the no-extra-charge pool/mast grill and are now charging for burgers at that location on the Connie.

Not sure when we'll be able to sail again, but I'd be pretty upset if this continued. The burgers and fries at the mast grill were always fresh and great. I seriously doubt they'll match that at the buffet area, and there is no way I'm going to pay $10 for a burger for lunch on a cruise.

.... They have always haggled the price WAY down and then come home and gotten the item appraised (for insurance purposes) WAY more than what they paid, usually around the price it was originally listed for or more. ...

Insurance appraisals, even by an independent certified gemologist, are meaningless in determining the actual retail value of jewelry. They are done to conform to some sort of standard reference which is a very high retail value. I learned this when both when having jewelry appraised. I told the jeweler I thought the appraised values were too high and wanted more realistic values closer to what I knew they could be replaced for. This is because the insurance company charges premiums based on the appraised value but will only pay a loss based on replacement cost at a dealer they approve of, usually at much lower prices. The appraiser told me that she couldn't appraise lower as the standards they were required to follow specified what price guides to use.

I ran into the same thing once buying an expensive diamond ring. The seller provided an appraisal form for insurance purposes that was considerably more than what I paid. I asked for the appraisal form to be reduced to the actual price I paid since that was clearly FMV and they said they could not do that.

NONE of the places you listed, especially the ship, can be relied upon to be a "good deal". We've bought jewelry on the ship before but were under no illusion that the price was great and we knew the ship's price and service guarantee was worthless. But my DW liked a piece and the price wasn't out of line so we bought it for her to enjoy it - not because it was a bargain.

Same thing for the islands. There are some dealers in the eastern Caribbean, especially St. Martin and St. Thomas that have very good prices on some jewelry. But it is an absolute must to know exactly what you're looking for as prices, quality and the store's reputation. You can not just presume that any shop will have good deals or decent product or service. Also, I've never heard about Grand Cayman nor the shops in the port plaza at Costa Maya as having any special deals on jewelry and the only thing I've heard about other shops in Mexico is potentially good prices on Silver Jewelry but you must have the knowledge to judge prices and quality without regard to anything the sales people tell you.

And most of all ignore the ships shopping program and list of recommended stores. Those are absolutely meaningless as the only thing it takes to be recommended is for them to pay the ship's port marketing partner advertising fees and commissions. Being recommended by the ship or the marketing consultant has noting to do with service and reputation.

They can make the prices whatever they want.

Many of the wines are priced per glass what we pay per bottle here at home. :(

All extra charge beverages on the ship are priced at the level you would expect to pay in a nice restaurant or bar, and all of them are substantially above retail prices. This applies to both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages and isn't surprising. I don't know if I've ever been in a bar or lounge (on land or sea) that had beverage prices that were as low as what one would find at a retail market, liquor or wine store so comparing to retail bottle prices isn't really fair.

We live in the Chicago area and the prices on board, for bottles of wine and individual cocktails, are actually lower than what we find in nicer restaurants or lounges around here.

...I alerted Celebrity a few weeks ago--no response....

Celebrity has no direct involvement in this forum or with Cruise Critic operation and management in general. While this subject of this forum is Celebrity Cruise Line, it is run by Cruise Critic and not Celebrity.

If you have a problem with something on Cruise Critic then you should contact Cruise Critic at the email address at the bottom of this page.

If you just want to report a post to the attention of the Cruise Critic moderators for a breach of rules or any other impropriety then click the little blue triangle with the exclamation mark on it - located in the upper right hand corner of the post's margin.next to the thread post count (the first post in a thread is always #1).

Yes, room service tipping isn't included in the DSC so I usually tip.

This is not correct, or at least it was not correct about 3 or 4 years ago. Twice over the years, with the last time being 3 or 4 years ago, I confirmed with Celebrity via email that the daily gratuity service charge did in fact include gratuities for the room service staff.

My experiance, again it's been a few years, is that room service delivery staff not only didn't wait around with their hand out for a tip but more often (at least for breakfast) then set down the tray and were out of the room so quickly that unless you had any extra tip money already in hand when you opened the door for them that it was hard to get the money out in time to tip them.

Personally, we would always tip room service a little extra cash, but my feeling was that if one was not inclined to do so that they could feel comfortable that they were not stiffing the staff as long as they were paying the standard daily gratuity service charges.

This goes along with any other service on the ship. While many, or most, people do tip additional for the good service they get on board, ever service on board where a tip is expected is either included in the daily gratuity charge or there is an additional charge for, or including, gratuities charged for the purchase or service. Anything off the ship, including excursion guides and baggage handlers, is a different story and is not included automatically.

Security will look for some documentation showing you have business there at the port entrance and/or entrance to the check-in terminal in addition to wanting to see your photo ID (passport or DL). At the Celebrity terminal they ask for the express pass but it is not a necessity. They'll accept any travel confirmation, such as a confirm or invoice from your travel agent or Celebrity, or a similar document. If you don't have that either you can get in with just your ID but it might take longer as they'll need to call someone over with a passenger manifest.

Bottom line is that if you can print out the express pass it is preferable to other documents and will speed things up a couple minutes but it isn't anything serious if you don't have it.

I once booked a cruise at the very last minute (two or three days before sailing) and the Celebrity rep on the phone told me that as she wasn't sure if I'd still be able to do online check in or print the express pass.

A woman at ilounge insisting that "somebody here HAS to know my AOL account password" which she herself had forgotten and thus couldn't access her email.

 

A passenger who, throughout th cruise, repeatedly tried her key in my door and then pounded on it and shouted for me to let her in. Her cabin was next door to mine and even had a large red Valentine on its door while mine was unadorned. You would have thought that could have been a clue.

Hmm.... Maybe next cruise I'll bring a big door sign that says: NOT YOUR CABIN

I would suggest you go to Cruise Critic's Aruba Port of Call forum and post a question there asking about the type of excursion you're looking for and if anyone has any other providers they can recommend.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=168

You can also just try Googling Aruba off road excursions and see what comes up.

There must be a leak. The elevator pass program wasn't supposed to be announced until the 1st day of the month after next..

...would an able bodied person prefer an Aqua Class stateroom or Aqua class Accessible room? I don't want to downgrade to concierge class (looking forward to Blu) for about the same costs, but....

I have not had an AQ Accessible cabin but was once assigned a Concierge Class accessible cabin years ago (Assigned it a week before sailing).

As an able bodied person, and all other things being equal, I would generally prefer a regular cabin over an accessible cabin. But if there were situations like yours where I was assigned an accessible cabin and alternatives were not as nice in terms of class or location then I wouldn't go to lengths to avoid the accessible cabin either.

The pros for an able bodied person is that accessible cabins are several feet wider to accommodate extra room for a wheelchair or scooter and a larger bathroom with a walk-in/roll-in shower. The extra space is nice but isn't a really big deal for an able bodied person.

The cons were that the accessible features of the rooms fixtures provided a little less storage than a standard cabin. For example the closet was the same size but had a fixture to lower the rod which effectively reduced the space for hanging clothing by a couple inches. The bathroom sink had no cabinets underneath in order to to allow room for a wheelchair to pull up. These were not big distractions but things that I'd prefer to have the standard features on if given a choice.

Again this was a CC cabin on a different ship but I presume the AQ accessible cabins would have similar features.

Do people think that the all inclusive packages mean that the punters will stay on board rather than getting off the ship, visiting towns, beaches etc?

OK, I give up. Punter?

Aft Facing C1 or SV cabins have very little cover so are mostly open to the sky - except for the C1 cabins on deck 12 which are fully covered.

And yet they don't seem to have an issue with me using my husband's card to get him a drink. I know I've taken both our cards to the bar to get us drinks while he was holding our loungers or whatnot. Maybe they didn't have an issue because we both had the drink package and I had both cards?

This is SOP for them as long as one of the cards belongs to the person presenting them. After all it is so common for one person to go get drinks for the couple, or a group.

In any event, make sure you have his cell phone number so you can call or text him early if you end up docking at the other dock from what you tell him.

Well worth a couple dollars for the international roaming call if it prevents a big mix up if things change.

Does anyone know if Celebrity allows you to transfer drink packages to guests within the same cabin? We have 3 guests in the same cabin and 2 are receiving the Go Best perks, however we want the third guest to have the drink package perk as the 2nd guests does not drink too much. Essentially we want the perks listed under the 3rd person rather than the second. Is this doable after final payment?

I don't know if they will or not, but your best bet is to go to guest relations ASAP after boarding to ask. Do this before anyone has used the drink package or charged drinks.