Ergates The Ant

There were no Norwegian food offerings in the buffet on that cruise. Thought we might at least see some Norwegian cheese, but they didn’t even have any cheddar in the buffet! The lunchtime buffet themes included British, Indian, American, Italian, and I think French. The evening selection was not so extensive, which was a shame. 

20 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Cafe270 has the former, it may not have the latter. 

Oh, that’s a shame. Been looking at videos and couldn’t see an espresso machine.

Thanks anyway. Looks like we will manage somehow! Just off Celebrity Apex, and couldn’t actually find a seat in Il Bacio, the coffee shop, more than twice on the cruise, so might be a red herring anyway.

That’s really useful to know, thanks. Preferred breakfast is pastries or muesli  but with an espresso. Not a big fan of cooked breakfasts.

Do they have espresso based coffees available at Cafe 270?

Thanks. Last ship we were on had a Lavazzo coffee stand facing onto the Promenade, next to the Cafe. We usually sat ‘outside’ with pastries from the cafe, and coffee from the stand. Not a huge fan of Starbucks, but we’ll give it a go! I’ll certainly be wanting to sample the patisserie offerings, but perhaps not at breakfast!

We do enjoy the offerings in the Cafe Promenade on other RCCL ships, but there was a coffee stall next door where we could get ‘proper’ coffee to eat with our snacks. Can’t see exactly where the Starbucks is on Anthem. Would we be restricted to the fancy cakes with our coffee from the patisserie shop, or can we mix and match at the cafe promenade as we’ve done in the past. Thanks.

The great thing about the infinite balcony cabins is that the AC is independent of any other cabins. When the window is opened, the AC goes off immediately, and comes on again when the window is shut. We are not big fans of air conditioning, and cruising in Europe, are happier to regulate cabin temperatures by opening windows or doors.

You will be able to open the window as you please and enjoy the sea air, and the sounds of the waves. I’m not sure if the regular balcony cabins on the rest of the E class ships have the same arrangement?

Just off Apex, confirm that there was a kettle and a selection of tea bags etc in our room. Tea bag brands ranged from ?Bigelow, but also Tetley. More varieties were available in the buffet, plus sachets of painfully sweet hot chocolate powder. 
Horrid little glass cups though, so we brought a couple of china mugs down from the buffet to use. The buffet also had little metal teapots for tea making, so we also ‘borrowed’ one of those to use in our room. 
Meant we could make our tea properly with boiling water. I did see people making tea in the buffet by putting the water in the pot first, then choosing  and unwrapping the tea bag before dangling it into the water. Not the way I’d like it. 
 

I think if you were reliant on air conditioning for cooling, you might have a problem. In Northern Europe, our first reaction to a warm room is to open the windows! No air con in our homes. We enjoyed the sea breeze when we stuck our heads out, but even with the ship at full speed, it wasn’t unpleasant with the window open. 
The view from the window also seemed less restricted, looking up and side to side seemed less close in than a balcony did. Excellent for Norway, when I can remember having to bundle up in jackets and lean over the balcony rail to see the sides of the fjord. Instead, we relaxed on the chairs by the window with a fantastic view, and even in the cold mornings, we could open the window enough to hear the waterfalls!

We found the chairs perfectly comfortable, but we have never used previous balconies for lounging or sunbathing. 
The glass was cleaned twice on our 8 night cruise. The salt was only evident on those occasions when the window was facing the sun, but we have experienced this on regular balconies when the glass got dirty. At least we didn’t have to go outside to see out!

Two views from the room, at 3am, window closed and cosy and warm!

And a view of a fjord from the open window.
 

We have always booked balcony cabins in the past, but a last minute booking to Norway meant only Infinite Bacony available. 
We loved it! I’d nearly go so far as to say that it could be a deal breaker for us, we found it so much to our taste. 
This is why it appealed so much to us, as your personal requirements will be different. 
We love to hear the sea, and it was lovely to be able to sleep with the window at least partly open without the AC playing up. Loved the privacy of being able to sit right by the edge of the open window, without balcony neighbours being obvious. Hardly knew there was anyone next to us on either side. If I hadn’t seen them going into their rooms, I might have guessed that both were unoccupied. 
The extra space made a huge difference in the cabin too. It would probably have been too cold to sit out for too long in Northern Europe, but we had the window open for hours at a time. Wonderful to see straight down to the sea, too. 
We often leave our curtains open at night anyway, and we only closed the blind once to test how it worked! Perfect for cruising the fjords, when  we passed mountain ranges in the small hours by the light of the moon.
We would book this type of cabin again without hesitation, but appreciate that the climate in the Caribbean would present different challenges. I’ve never visited there, and have no plans to do so, but for cooler climates and scenic cruises, it exceeded my expectations.

Just off Apex. We did walk through to the Martini bar area from guest services. There was a ramp leading up to the middle area of the bar, but then steps to the next level where il Bacio was. 

Just off Apex. If you are sailing out of UK, espresso based coffees are $6 for an americano, I think $5 for an espresso, as they have included the 20% ‘gratuity’ in the price. We only drink one caffeinated coffee a day, but didn’t manage that as there wasn’t enough seating near il Baccio. The coffee in the buffet was surprisingly drinkable, and there were fruit juices and fruit flavoured drinks available all day. Ice machines and water too, so no need for us to buy bottled water. A good selection of teas, including herbal ones. 

We just pay as you go for drinks. Given how difficult it was to find seats in il Baccio in the mornings, I’d have been really annoyed if I’d splashed out on a package thinking I’d get full use of it.

Coffee was usually much better on shore for half the price.

There were a lot of sailing boats in the area. Maybe there was a race on, and it was avoiding them?

Thanks for the input. Looks like it will be the usual luck of the draw which side the ship will be facing. It occurred to me that maybe the magic carpet would restrict which way the ship docked, but sounds as if it will be business as usual. I always enjoy watching the preparations for departure and the ropes being loosened off, and of course, any stragglers arriving at the last minute. 

I’ve booked a cabin on Apex on the opposite side, as didn’t want anything obstructing views. However does that mean we won’t see any views of the dock side of the ship? I know the Magic Carpet is used for Tender ports, but we don’t have any on our cruise.

Thanks, 

I wonder if the App is getting itself mixed up with other cruises, maybe longer with a correspondingly higher package price? 

We are sailing in five days time, the activities have only started loading in the last two days, the theatre shows only appeared today. I wonder if there is a filter to hide the kids club activities? They seem to have a very busy schedule, but not relevant to us. 

Update, the first two nights of our cruise are now showing events in the theatre, five days till we set sail.

I’ve never been able to drink enough to justify any of the packages, however much they discount them. And especially when I remember that we both have to purchase the package! I’ve always found the free decaf coffee on Celebrity  perfectly acceptable, and although I treat myself to one cup of ‘proper’ coffee a day, I often save that experience to enjoy ashore for half the price. I’ve hung onto my teeth and their enamel for this long, so I won’t be messing them up now with more than one glass of fruit juice a day and one can of ( diet) fizz, and I’m very fussy about tea. I’ll take my favourite brand of teabags, and avoid paying through the nose for the privilege of being given a posh tea bag and a cup of tepid water to dunk it in. A glass of wine with dinner, and maybe a Bailey’s afterwards isn’t going to break the bank, and I’d have to splash out on the premium package to cover the Baileys. So it’s a no brainer for us to pay as we go. 
I wonder how many people actually save by buying a package? Obviously it doesn’t hurt Celebrity or any of the cruise companies if passengers don’t drink up to the limit. And given the inflated on board prices, it probably doesn’t matter if everyone drank themselves silly, as presumably most of the alcohol is duty free, so an even bigger mark-up.

The prices for all the drinks and internet packages for my cruise next week have been fluctuating wildly. The internet I purchased was half the initial quotes. They keep announcing Flash sales, sometimes they go down, sometimes  they don’t! We’ll pay our way for drinks, especially as we may have some ashore, and I prefer to drink the water on the ship rather out of bottles. It looked as if members with Captains Club status may get different offers?

Thanks, lv2cruisgrl, that’s very helpful.

Never suggested removing the ‘tips’, why would you say that?

The service charge has to be labelled optional to those booking in the UK, as otherwise it would have to be included in the overall price. This resulted from a consumer law change after the low cost airlines were advertising ridiculously low prices and then charging for compulsory extras, I believe it was contravening Trades Descriptions acts. ( or something like that, hopefully readers will get the general idea)

I still think it would be the decent thing to recognise the efforts of the lowest paid workers with a proper guaranteed wage in the first place. If gratuities can be included in the fare from Australia, it can be done from the UK. And of course it wouldn’t make any difference to the overall cost, which will just look higher. I’m perfectly capable of adding up the charges needed to see the total cost of the cruise. But if the ‘gratuity’ is, and should be, an essential part of the cruise cost, then add it in to start with, and remove the possibilities of misleading passengers and depriving the crew. This should apply to cruises out of the UK, as American cruisers have grown up with their system and are accustomed to it.

No further comment from me.

The Celebrity cruise App is slowly getting populated in readiness for our cruise to Norway next week. However there is nothing yet showing for shows in the main theatre, just The Club, and no sign of any daytime lectures. I’m assuming there will actually be some, not just sales opportunities for fancy watches or coloured ( ie flawed!) diamonds!

7 hours ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

I agree with you on most everything.  Except in the US wages for food service employees varies greatly.  In at least 6 states food service workers have the same wages and retirement and health benefits as every other employee.  In some places the minimum wage is $20 an hour and received by all.employees.  In others it is $7.25 and a waitress (tipped staff) could earn as little as 4.25.

Last, a comment specific to my home state.  Lower income families are eligible for free medical insurance with deductibles that are $10 or often zero.  Parents need to simply sign up their children.  Sadly almost half do not.

 

Thus if in the US, one might Google wages for where they will be visiting.  A tip might be be appropriate for superior service, but not being served a cup of tea.

Thanks for that information, Arizona Wildcat. Sad that so few states treat service workers with the same privileges that others enjoy. It’s the shame that all the cruise lines operating out of the UK don’t employ the same gratuities included policy that they do out of Australia.
I just find it bizarre that I am quoted an often very high price for a cruise, and then discover that I’m supposed to pay extra for elements that I would have reasonably expected to have been included! Just seems ridiculous to me, but I’ve learnt to just roll my eyes and go with the flow!

Can’t understand why some of those who get so agitated by anyone who dares to consider withdrawing the ‘optional’ gratuities, don’t do the decent thing and lobby to get the service charges included in the fare. Like nearly every other industry, and most of the world.