Transatlantic Cruising 101 - our 2 trans cruises in 05 - a comparison

[Brahmama]

We just returned from the Splendour of the Seas. We left Barcelona on the 12th of November and arrived in Galveston on the 26th of November.

 

In May we took the Galaxy from Galveston to Rome.

 

After reading many of the questions that people have about Trans cruises, I wanted to write about both of these cruises - hoping that I can give some information. Since there just aren't many of these repositioning cruises - perhaps this will be good information for some of you.

 

I have noticed that there are some more trans reviews, so that's a good thing - the more information, the better choices you can make!

 

I will post the May review first in a few days and it will all be on this same thread.

 

I hope it's helpful - be warned they will be long and detailed and opinionated!

 

More later -

 

Carol

[Poconolady]

Looking forward to your reveiw of the trans on the Spledor, we were on the SOS and departed in Barcelona on the 12th, so we had several friends and tablemates who were doing the back to back Med/trans crossing. Interested in how the entertainment and dining staff did on the long haul. I know there many staff changes that were being made.

[EGG]

Hi Carol,

 

We are looking forward to your reviews. The more opinionated the better. For some of us, it helps us make better decisions.

 

Ellen,

You cruisemate from the Constellation 8/04

[Brahmama]

TRANSATLANTICS 101

 

Transatlantic May 05 Celebrity’s Galaxy - Barcelona to Galveston

 

This was the 1st of our 2 Trans in 2005 and we have had a total of 4 so we have some comparison. (2 Celebrity, 1 Princess, 1 RCCL)

 

We flew from Love Field in Dallas to Houston on Southwest. Our friends met us there and we gathered up our luggage and a car was waiting to drive us to Galveston. We spent the night in Galveston and left for the ship about 11 in the morning. We had about a 10 minute wait to actually board the ship. We were met with champagne and took our luggage right to our cabin before going for lunch.

 

This was our 16th cruise and the last 4 have also been on Celebrity. This ship - the Galaxy - is smaller than the Connie or Millie but that didn't bother us. But our CC room was MUCH MUCH smaller than the CC’s on those ships. We still had a good sized balcony but I missed the space in the rooms. I don’t think we’ll book another CC unless the room is larger. We can always buy some flowers and a bottle of champagne!

 

I loved our location (1200) and it was quiet. We could walk around the corner and be at the track for a few laps. And the elevator was right there also. But the room was decorated in ORANGE modern patterns - I didn't like that at all. When we first entered our cabin - they had made our bed up with TWO twin bedspreads which gapped in the middle! That was tacky. When the girl finally came, we ordered our pillows and bed pillow (Concierge class) and asked for a real bedspread that would fit our bed. we had a sofa that would seat 2 and one chair and the vanity. So when we had friends join us for wine before dinner, one had to sit on the BED! It was very very crowded for a CC. The bathroom was ok - and the shower was larger than usual (but no bathtub). They ran out of flowers half way through. I complained about that! That's one of the selling points of the CC class - the room steward just kept saying it wasn't her fault! But after 4 days, we had some flowers again! Room service was slow every time and the food was not hot. But the coffee was good (we brought our own hazelnut creamer!) So we didn't have room service as much as usual. Usually we would have coffee every morning. Our room was always made up right away. No complaints. She was adequate.

 

Um, if you are new to cruising, you might want to pack a small can of room deodorizer - for the closets esp. I kept the closet doors open and sprayed a lot, but sometimes there is an odor - remember people had just gotten off the ship and had stuffed all their dirty clothes in that closest and drawers! Other trick is cotton balls with some cologne stuck in the drawers. I noticed the smell more than ever before.

 

The food was really good in the dining room (better than the last several cruises) - only a few yukkies - and our wait staff in the dining room was the best EVER! Friendly and yet professional and efficient. I loved those guys. We didn't go up to the the buffet very much - but the pizza/pasta and salads were great.

 

The casino is a joke. After we lost enough, we just quit going. Lots of times it was empty. We don’t do bingo but it’s available. One nice thing about Celebrity is that there are NO announcements except daily from the Bridge when the captain makes his report.

 

We met a few really nice people from the cruise critic board (maybe 8 max) But It never was a “good board” with people bonding and we never got together except for the party. We did find a great couple to play some bridge with - and a few more to share tours with. It’s strange how some boards take off and people really get involved and others just fizzle.

 

We had some unbelievably great entertainment - We loved the Charades -

went to hear them over again. A fantastic violinist - they played all kinds

of music - Puccini, Andrew Lloyd Weber, etc. but they left the ship when we did. . The Broadway show was our favorite. We saw one movie and had to leave it (Anchorman) it was vile and nasty and wasn't even FUNNY! People walked in droves. Over half had left when we left.

 

Not many movies on the TV in the room. No TV guide - didn't always work - but the daily movies in the theatre are in the paper.

 

Martinis were good and the guy at the bar is a hoot. The piano player down there is a joke! He just noodles around and never finishes a song, but he's very pleasant. Roger in the main bar is the best bar guy we ever had, but he was leaving the ship. I think that our wait staff was leaving the ship too. Everyone's contract was up. We always got the drinks of the day - quite good and reasonable at $4.25! Wine was out of sight. Our favorite was St. Francis cab and with the tip added it was $38.60 a bottle. (pricey for us....) We ordered 4 bottles. The 3rd bottle was acidy and we sent it back. They DIDN'T LiKE THAT AT ALL and argued with us! We were embarassed but darned if we were going to drink a bad bottle of wine at $38.60. We ordered it again a few nights later when we had guests for dinner and that was fine. But that was the end of the wine. We just ordered drinks from the drink guy - and didn't have to deal with the snooty wine steward again! That was the first time we ever had a problem. But then, I don't think we ever sent a bottle back before.

 

We slept late a lot and really loved being rested when we got to Europe.

 

We didn't like the cruise director! He was loud and repeated himself a lot! Loved to hear his own voice. It was the longest muster we ever had because of his chatter and repetition.

 

The elegant tea was WONDERFUL - don't skip it if you have a chance to attend.

 

It was maybe the smoothest cruise we had ever been on - like glass. Hardly any motion.

 

Be aware that the Galaxy is not the largest ship in the fleet and it has some age, but we enjoyed the sailing. I don’t think we would sail on this class of ship again as we enjoyed the Millenium and the Constellation size quite a bit more. But it was very clean and easy to get around.

 

Disembarkation:

This is always easy on Celebrity. We had asked for a particular time to leave the ship and walked off at that time. We were in our stateroom until we left the ship. We waited outside an extra 30 minutes for our driver who was late because of traffic. We drove from the port to Rome and then took the train to Naples. We spent 5 days on the Amalfi Coast in Praiano and another week in the vicinity of Rome, so we enjoyed the land portion a lot. Maybe it overshadowed the cruising on this particular trip. But we have enjoyed all of our cruises - some more than others.

 

Please feel free to ask questions about anything.

[Brahmama]

Transatlantic November 12

14 days Splendour of the Seas - RCCL

Barcelona to Galveston

 

This was the 2nd of our two Transatlantics in 05.

 

On 11/10

Pre-Cruise

We flew to Barcelona on AA from DFW to Gatwick. AA was an hour late leaving the gate - so we were rushed getting to London. We did make our connection on to Barcelona, but our bags didn't! There were several of us without bags, so we filled out the forms and went on to our hotel. We stayed at the Continental Hotel RIGHT ON Las Ramblas. We had been there before and will stay there again! More of a B&B with snacks out all day. We got TWO connected rooms so we could have a little space with a tiny patio and light. It was still only 100 Euro. Good beds and very very nice linens that didn't scratch my skin. (I'm picky about that - my skin is very sensitive) We met friends at La Sagrada Familia and then went with them for tapas and cava in a very nice typical place. Went to bed about 9:00 but I woke up with a start at 11:00 - realizing that we still didn't have our baggage! So I dressed and went to the front desk to inquire. No word. I went back to the room and Will was up and fully dressed, so we just moved our to the parlour next to the front desk and played rummy and had hot tea. I was making a list by that time of what we would have to BUY. But at midnight, our luggage appeared, so then we went back to bed and slept until 9:00 AM! So what a good night’s sleep.

 

We had a great breakfast with boiled eggs, lovely whole grain toasts, juices, cereals, apples, bananas, oranges, kiwis all out so you could have whatever you wanted. Cappachino, expresso, hot tea all freshly made. And pastries which looked good, but we passed on those. Then we walked a block to the most wonderful department store. El Cortez Ingles. A real department store - the way we had in the states, before Walmarts, and Penney's and all the discount stores. The doors opened at 10:00 and there were doormen in uniforms to welcome you. We took the escalator to the basement to find the FLOWERS! (They had everything in this store - like a Harrod's - - well kinda like a Harrod's!) But I put together a lovely bouquet of purple, lavender, rose and white flowers for the ship and carried it around the store like a bride! Then we found the housewares where I wanted my Spanish souvenirs and found their lovely pale green glass. So I got several little pitches and plates for oil and vinegar and nuts, etc. They bubble-wrapped everything and took such time and care and oh what pride in their work! The girl with the bouquet worked on it for 10 minutes.* Then we found the gourmet department and bought some liquor that is only available in Spain. We were almost out of it. It is called Quarento and Tres (43)* and I discovered it years ago in Madrid. We also bought a huge bottle of Sangria for the ship. And nuts and things. So after we enjoyed this store we walked back to our hotel.

 

We called for a cab about 11:00 and went right to our ship - RCCL’s Splendour of the Sea and got right ON the ship. We had a junior suite (comparable to a mini-suite on HAL and Princess and NCL ) It was very nice. It was TWICE as big as the CC we had on the Galaxy and HALF the price. It was so nice to have room again. We had a very comfortable sofa and 2 nice chairs with a table large enough for* a meal. And the balcony was very wide - just right. The number was 8044 - and there was noise over our cabin every day - as the Windjammer & ping pong table were overhead! Thank heavens no-one was playing after midnight! But there were lots of rumblings - probably carts moving.

 

We dropped off our carry-ons and went up to the buffet lunch that was waiting in the Windjammer. We nibbled a little and especially enjoyed the Honey Crunch Chicken, which we looked for but never were served again on the 14 days we were on the ship.

 

But anyway, we loved our room - newly decorated, with brand new headboard, drapes, furniture. A nice sized bathroom with a TUB thank heavens. There isn't a room on Celebrity that is equivalent. The CC's are too small and have no tub or sitting room - and the next step up is the Sky Suite - which is 4 times as big (but out of our budget - darn it)* Although I hear over and over “We just change clothes and sleep in our cabin” - we are different. We “do “spend time in our room - we read - had coffee in every morning - and ordered lunch up FROM THE LUNCH MENU!!! twice. We could have ordered up for the Evening menu, but never wanted to do that. We had people up for drinks before dinner 4 times and had plenty of room for 4. We sat on the balcony in the sun. Although it was the middle of November we had simply perfect weather. It was about 75 degrees all days but about 4.

 

And as usual there was a virus on the ship, so we stayed in our room and on the balcony a lot to get the nice fresh air and away from the crowds. I don’t belive that viruses “live” on the ships. I think they come from the people embarking. Anytime you get hundreds of people together, there will be some with germs - whether it’s in school, on a train, on a cruise or in a gymnasium or shopping mall. As usual the signs were out (very good signs that everyone should heed) Wash hands after each bathroom break and AGAIN before eating. (Eating ANYTHING - potato chips, putting a piece of gum in your mouth, chewing on a pencil - think of all the germs our hands transmit to our mouths! - Can you tell I was a teacher in my past life?)

 

The food? It was about the same as Celebrity - coming back on the crossing I felt as if the quality had gone down a bit and certainly there were not as many choices. But there was an alternative menu - with salmon, steaks, chicken and pasta every night.* We got really tired of cruise food after about a week, and just wanted some plain food. There were not a lot of fancy desserts like on Celebrity. - but I don't eat dessert a lot, so that was ok with me. They had baked Alaska one night (I don't care for that) and also Cherries Jubilee, but no flaming deserts like Banana Fosters, etc.

 

We did have lobster and shrimp two nights - but one was enough for me! I always found an appetizer and soup that I liked and sometimes nice salads, and just picked at my entree or skipped that course. But I’m not a typical eater. My husband had prime rib twice. Also he commented on the Chauteau Briand and a rib eye steak. Our waiter always suggested what to eat and what NOT to eat. I followed his lead most of the time. I never had a “bad” meal - never sent a thing back - I did get a piece of cod that was just warm - and I just didn’t eat it. I wasn’t that hungry anyway. Our waiter would have bought us anything we desired. And a couple of times we ordered an entree “for the table” - especially if there was a pasta.

 

Our wait staff was superb. We started out at a table for 2 (very small) and were treated very well. The 3rd night we changed to a table for 6 and another couple joined us. So they took away 2 servings and we had a lot of room and kept the same wait staff. The* Head waiter was at our table every night - they really worked as a team. I saw him pouring wine, removing dishes, even carrying food from the kitchen if needed. I liked the team work.*

 

We usually skip most of the entertainment, but for some reason, we went almost every night and enjoyed it. We had a lot of folk dancing, Flamenco from Spain (Ole,Ole) and then later on the Gauchos from Argentina - who danced with swords, whips and boleros. Very entertaining! I missed the classical music that we had on the Galaxy in May.* There was NONE. But there were lots of music spots - a good piano bar - good trio music in the Centrum for dancing anytime. Music with Big Band for dancing up one floor and of course the Disco - which we don't go to, but was nice for sitting during the day with a huge view from right to left and where we called you from. Hardly anyone up there during the day, but people reading and doing needle work! We did dance almost every night and went to a couple of dance classes.

 

A nice library but with not enough books. We went on the 3rd day and maybe people had already taken them all to their room! I did find 4 books that we read. The card room was too small and not organized/

 

The people were not as sedate as the typical Celebrity crowd and we witnessed several interesting things! Lots of rumours and wild things on the ship. Funny wild things - too long to type. But we enjoyed the people we ate with and visited with. People were - on the whole - friendly and interesting. Of course there are always some people who walk around with frowns all the time and always complain. I feel sorry for people like that and try to always give them one of my smiles, since they have misplaced theirs. Usually, they smile back (sometimes not.)

 

I absolutely hated the buffet (called the WIndjammer) - and the tea time which was held there also. It was crowded, the traffic lines were non-existant - it reminded me a a cheap buffet in a motel that I wouldn't go to if I were home.

But it was good to know on the two or three times we *were* there - the waiters had a spray bottle of disinfectant and cleaned each table after use - trying to keep the virus to a minimum. Also the “bottles” were out - but not until a few days into the cruise.

 

So almost our meals were taken in the dining room or our room. The solarium (covered pool/spa area) had hamburgers, pizza, hot dogs, chicken burgers, veggie burgers and nice tapas (white asparagus, hearts of palm, red peppers, etc) but how silly - you had to walk the whole length down to that Windjammer area to get tea or coffee! The only drinks there were alcoholic or water. There was no nice little corner for Spa food - no pasta area - except at lunch in the WINDJAMMER! It was open at night, so that was your alternative dining choice. Not for me.

 

We had lunch in the dining room several times. The most startling thing happened when one of the Head Waiters (very popular with many of the passengers) came to our table to pour the water. When he poured for the lady next to me, several pieces of ice had melted together and just sat on the top of her water glass. He took his pitcher and slammed the bottom of it down on the ice and it did break it up. It splintered and went everywhere - down her dress - on the floor, all over the tablecloth. He laughed and made a comment about “cooling us off” and left! I couldn’t help but wonder where that pitcher had been sitting with the worry about germs all over the ship!

 

I really don’t think that would have taken place on Celebrity - and thought he was a bit full of himself. I wonder who supervises the head waiters? !!?

 

I did think that the lunch menu was good and always had something tasty. It is important to know that at breakfast and lunch, the waiter has no assistant - so he/she *will* be slower - having to go for the food, clear the courses, etc. But it’s nice and relaxing - just expect slower service.

 

For tea - In our room, I could order up coffee/tea and a plate of cheese, fruit and cookies. We liked that much better than the mass scene. And the choc chip cookies were good. And yes, you should tip room service unless it is your room steward and then you tip him extra at the end (that happened to us on one trip). We tipped $2 for a small tray and $3 to $4 for a large tray.

 

The ports were ok - new to us were:

 

Alicante (very quaint and nice - I liked this one)

 

Malaga (to go to Grenada) (We didn't go - just took the shuttle into town)

 

Canary Islands - this was nice - got another bouquet here to take to my stateroom

 

Nassau - well same ole same ole.

 

This was our recovery cruise . Will had been in the hospital with heart procedures and his sister died just a week before we left.-so we needed some down time. We read - played rummy and slept a LOT. On the west crossing we had 7 25 hour days which we loved.

 

As Elite members of Celebrity, that transfered to Diamond Members on RCL. But not as many special perks. Here's a comparison.

Celebrity Elite* ** ** ** ** RCL Diamond

 

Cova choc* * ** ** ** ** ** * Choc covered strawberries

Carry on Bags * ** ** ** ** *Carry on cosmetic case

Wine tasting* * ** ** ** ** ** *Wine tasting

Wine MIXING

Drinks with the Staff* * ** Drinks with all the Plat/Diamond guests

Elegant tea

Coupon books Better coupon books! 2 free pictures - total of $30

 

So for a final comparison - I can’t choose one line over the other. I enjoyed things on each line. Both ships were very clean and very positive and helpful staff members.

 

EXCEPT for the front desk! Wow, Where do they get those people? They must have to fail public relation tests to get a job!

 

Examples:

 

There is no way to get messages on the Splendour. You never know if someone has phoned and you have no way to leave a message. I wasn’t aware of that. I was trying to reach another passenger and after several vain attempts, I called the front desk and asked them to deliver a short message. (about 2 sentences) The man wrote it out and told me they only delivered every few hours, and I said that would be fine. Guess what? In 14 days, it was not delivered. Why didn’t he just tell me that? Another time I called the Crown and Anchor and left a message asking them to call me. They never did. And 2 nights before disembarking, my husband, the calmest and kindest of men, took a letter to the desk (we had received THAT NIGHT as Diamond passengers about disembarking early). The man was surly and hateful. He read the letter, threw it back and said that he didn’t know anything about that. His attitude and tone of voice were insulting. We thought that was bad, until fellow passengers told us *their* experiences with the front desk! It’s enough to just say that they were worse than ours.

 

I liked the cruise director especially - he was friendly and really “all around” the ship - speaking to everyone. He didn’t repeat himself or love to hear himself talk all the time, as some do. I appreciated the smiles of the staff - and the friendly attitudes.

 

Disembarkation:

We received colored luggage tags to put on our baggage and were to leave the ship when our colors were called. We did go back down to the Purser’s Desk and request an early disembarkation (as per our letter). This time - after a long phone call- we were given the color that we asked for. The cruise news had suggested that we vacate our cabin by 7:15. We went upstairs to have a cup of coffee and toast about 7:00 and came back and picked up our carry-ons and were in the Diamond/Platinum Lounge by 7:15. There was a problem with immigration allowing the luggage off the ship. So we were running about an hour late. We did get off about 9:00, found our luggage and as luck would have it, our shuttle was right outside. We drove to Houston in the pouring rain, but we were on our SW flight by 11:00 and arrived in Dallas at 11:45. Our travel angels were on duty that morning!

 

I guess I’ve covered everything. I really would like to write a booklet to new passengers. I think many of them start their cruising with totally unrealistic expectations. So of course they are disappointed. It’s important to remember that simply NOTHING is perfect. There will be good and bad things. The important thing is to just accept that and move on. If you stress over something is will dampen your cruise. Just learn to laugh, shrug and forget about it.

 

One thing that we learned very early about cruising is not to be disappointed the last day - disembarkment day! You won't find your room steward waiting around to serve you with big smiles; you probably won't find any staff members that you knew. They are all very very busy getting the ship ready for the next bunch of passengers and your LAST and the new passengers' FIRST day are the very busiest for the crew. Some of them have the added duties of getting the luggage out to the pier and you can imagine how busy the room stewards are getting "your" stateroom ready for the next to board.

 

I do wish all of you the best of cruising weather and many laughs and beautiful quiet moments of celebrating your life - and your luck of being able to be cruising at this particularly time of your life. Aren’t we lucky!

 

Any questions? I’ll be glad to answer anything.

 

Carol / Brahmama on the boards

[Pincus]

Thanks, Carol, for some very helpful posts.

 

Pincus

[lkb125]

Would like some imput for a three day stay in Brussels ie moderate priced hotels and interesting restruants. Thanks Lorelle PS we are taking a transatlantic fro Florida to England and we are thinking of disembarking at the port for Brussels, we have never been there and have been to London many times, then we will continue on to Paris for 3 days. Thanks for the help Lorelle

[Brahmama]

Sorry Lorelle, we have never stayed in Belgium. Maybe if you put your request in a new thread on the Europe Board you will get some responses.

 

I did want to answer some questions for those who have emailed me.

 

In Barcelona, the place that we ate tapas and cava (Spanish sparkling wine) was Cerveceria Catalana at 236 Mallorca. The man at the hotel desk said that is where he and his friends went. It was only about 3 blocks from our hotel - that would be 2 blocks from the Placa de Catalunya.

 

Wine package? We purchased the cheapest one and (sigh) that's what we got. It was called the Gold Package and consister of 7 bottles for $158 (plus tax and tip of 15% and VAT of 7%) We would not order it again. The red that we liked the best (Sangiovese from Italy) was not available for the last few days. These are bottles that sell at World Market for $6.99 to $8.99. If you want the complete listing, let me know.

 

The air sanitizer that we took with us is OZIUM and you can buy it online at Sharper Image. I'm going to pack that with essentials on all our trips!

 

Anything else let me know - it's ok to post here - but if you are shy, use my email.

[Brahmama]

More answers

 

To the question about having a balcony - on so many sea days.

 

My answer was yes, it was worth it. It is great to be on the balcony when leaving ports, but also wonderful to go out on sea days. If you get one with a cover (be sure about this) you will have a balcony with some sun and some shade. It also depends whether you are starboard or port! Coming West, we were starboard and had the sun all day. Going East, port would be better. Just my opinion.

 

To the other question about room service, it works very well. They call you from the kitchen to let you know that your tray is on the way. Then you can be listening for the knock and have your tip ready! On the Splendour, it was right on time every morning except one. It's a great way to wake up - sipping your coffee on the balcony!

[Brahmama]

Natalie, you will have to go down to find the TRANS review of the Galaxy. Since I posted it first, it will be down AFTER the review of the Splendour.

 

Hope this helps you and have a great cruise.

 

Carol