New to CC and Celebrity

[Putz]

[font=Verdana]Hello everyone. New to CC and Celebrity. Have enjoyed reading all of your useful information for the past week. We’ve sailed 6 times with HAL, but Celebrity has the itinerary we’re looking for so we’re finally “jumping ship”. Hubby and I will be celebrating our 25th anniversary Sept 6, 2005 and have just booked the Aug 26/05 Millie sailing from Barcelona to Venice. We’ll be able to spend our anniversary in Venice! We’ve booked a 2B Cabin 7089. Since we’ve always done inside or ocean view, we’re really spoiling ourselves with a balcony. [/font]

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[font=Verdana]Although I know I’ll have lots of questions to ask over the next year, there’s just one for now. Neither of us is overly fussy about the food we eat (I hate to cook, so as long as I don’t have to prepare the meal, I enjoy it). On our last HAL cruise we ate a few casual dinners in the Lido buffet and thoroughly enjoyed being able to eat when we were ready to. I understand Millie has alternate dining in the Olympic Restaurant (a 4-hour dining experience!?) and the Ocean Grill. Does anyone know if the Ocean Grill is buffet style for dinners or do you order from a menu? [/font]

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[font=Verdana]We want to do pre and post cruise stayovers, but the hotel information won’t be available for another month. I’ll be back again to ask for everyone’s opinion once the hotel choices are available.[/font]

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[font=Verdana]Looking forward to spending the next 14 months on the CC/Celebrity board.[/font]

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[font=Verdana]Lynn [/font]

[tuggers]

Glad you decided to give X a try. And Venice for your anniversary. How romantic!

Can't answer your questions. I've only been on the other two classes of ships but I'm sure someone will be on in a few minutes with the info!

Happy sailing!

[sedfar]

The Ocean Grill is a buffet style area on the same deck as the pool. I did not eat there during dinners so I can not tell you how the food is. I do know, that the food was good at the Ocean Grill for breakfast, lunch and late afternoon sandwiches, but the food in the main restaurant was phenomenal.

I also ate at the Olympic, the food was good, but dinner was a little too long for me. But if you enjoy upscale service and great food, than dining here is a good idea.

Have a good time on your trip. You said you were going that last week in August. I just might see you on the ship! My friends and I are looking into that very week right now. I wasnt sure if I should book so early.

Congrats on your 25th, and you couldnt have picked a better place to celebrate it....how romantic!

[catmand]

I just had to stop in here and say welcome. I think anyone named Putz :D is a great addition to the Cruise Critic boards, so:

[url="http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001"][img]http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/23/23_3_36.gif[/img][/url].........we will be celebrating our 15th this October on the new Sapphire, but then it is back to Celebrity. Have a good time while you wait.

[wv4891]

Hello Lynn,



Well you sure made a great choice in your cruise. In answer to your question about the alternative dining in the Ocean Grill, it is served from the same menu as the dining room for dinner, at least it was last Spring. They use the back part of the Grill for this if I remember correctly. The Olympic Speciality restaurant is a more formal setting, with coats and ties required for men, plus a $30.00 per person surcharge to cover the tips. It is a delightful dining experience!!! Now as to Pre or Post cruise stays in Barcelona, I just came back from a vacation there. If money is not a great concern I would highly recommend the Ritz Hotel. It is the lap of luxury and a true 5 star hotel, we stayed there 5 nights and loved it. It is in a great location very close to the Las Ramblas district, you can walk there in 10 minutes. Also, once again if money is not a problem there is a great restaurant inside the Hotel Majestic called Drolmas which is a real find and a delight, plus you can look out the windows right at one of the many Gaudi buildings that are in Barcelona while you are dining!! Hope you really enjoy your cruise!!

Bill

[gardencat]

[size=3]Putz,[/size]

[size=3]I too am looking forward to my first Celebrity cruise ( October 2004). [/size]
[size=3]I've already received lots of helpful information from the more experienced Celebrity cruisers on this board. I'm sure you too will be very glad you checked in here and will enjoy your cruise even more because of the hints and help from people on this board.[/size]
[size=3]Welcome to the Celebrity board and happy cruising.:) [/size]

[Putz]

Thank you all for your warm welcome.

Sedfar - We had intended to wait until next year to book our cruise, but when all the itineraries came out for the various cruiselines and we found that only Princess or Celebrity had itineraries we wanted that coincided with our anniversary date we decided to go ahead and get a good cabin pick. We priced Princess as well, but their inside cabin worked out to be $100 more than the outside with balcony we're getting on Celebrity. Couldn't pass that up.

WV4891 - Many thanks for the info on the Ocean Grill. Unfortunately, we'll have to be somewhat conservative in price when choosing our hotels. We realize you don't find Motel 6 in Europe, but hoping Celebrity offers something not too extravagant.

Catmand - For the record, Putz refers to my sometimes shaky putting performance on the golf course. My husband gave me that nickname.

Gardencat - We're neighbours - we live in T.O. You're lucky you only have 3 months to wait. The way the weather is shaping up here your Caribbean cruise might be the first hot weather you see this year!

[Lois R]

[color=purple]Putz...I bet you are a real "mensch"...not everyone would be so gracious to have Putz as a name:D [/color]

[Putz]

Lois R .... Like they say "you can call me anything, but just don't call me late for dinner".

Putz

[newtocc]

Hey look, I'm NewtoCC too!

[nealberk]

If you are curious about the menu at the Olympic restaurant, I have it on my website [url]www.celebrity-century.com[/url]. Yes, I know it is not Century related but it was so interesting that I had to include it (It is under food)

[Putz]

Great websites, Neal. Thanks for passing them along. Nice to hear from someone who has sailed both lines. I agree with you about the Rosario Strings...a few of our HAL sailings didn't have them on board and it was disappointing. I could sit all evening sipping on my Sambuca listening to their sweet music.
The Olympic menus have me drooling. Just before lunch wasn't the best time to be reading them. My peanut butter sandwich will be something of a letdown!
Thanks again for the info.

Lynn

[olderpilot]

Lynn,

We did a Med cruise out of Barcelona in 2000. We found several excellent hotels near the Ramblas that were fairly reasonable. I don't have the name of the one we stayed in, but I know we found it on Travelocity or Expedia. It was about half the cost of the cruise hotels and the location was actually better!

We are HAL veterans too and will be going on our first Celebrity cruise next February on the Infinity. Seems to be a trend developing.

Jerry

[nealberk]

Thank you for the complements, Lynn. Sorry about spoiling your lunch but in just a short time you will be able to eat the food in the Olympia!

I have not heard much from the Rosario Strings recently. When did you last hear them?

[Putz]

Neal - The last time we saw the Rosarios was on our 2000 Ryndam cruise. Hubby and I can't even remember who was on the Zuiderdam last year...they obviously didn't leave a lasting impression. Used to love having the Rosarios perform songs from the Philippines (particularly Anna's song)...they were always so proud to play them.

Lynn