Monday, July 9, 2012

Celebrity Cruises--What I like about them


Celebrity Cruises What I like:

Excellent customer service—they go above and beyond to:

--Add that extra touch (hand you cold towels in gym and when re-boarding from port visit, hand you sorbet by pool)

--Red carpet return to ship (hot chocolate, cold towels, cold beverages, hot soup etc) Pre-port visit coffee/pastries deck 4

--Resolve issues vs. defend and recite company policy

--They asked for feedback on how to improve service on THIS cruise before waiting till the end

Celebrity Equinox-Solarium

High energy, creative, variety of shipboard activities: wellness, enrichment, culinary, entertainment, lawn club, glass blowing show and more.  100s of activities on TA.  Passengers were fully engaged

Friendly, help staff. Everyone smiles and they all say hello

Spa Café-healthy dining

Solarium

Food is very good.  Nice presentation.  Seafood buffet. No need for steak knives here—meat is always tender.

Made to order stir-fry, pizza, eggs, pasta, burgers, Caesar salad, ice cream sundaes, crepes, fish, and more.

Officers interact with guests.  Pool volleyball contest, slot games, poker challenge, ping pong contests, dance contests, chefs cook-off etc.

Onboard future booking program-$100 deposit; 3 category upgrades, OBCs, fully refundable

Ship is beautiful elegant and clean.  (They are CONSTANTLY cleaning!)

Staff doesn’t point to things; they take you there.

Only 1 daily announcement, at noon, from captain

Not in your face trying to heavy sell

Passengers: happy, friendly, polite, well-traveled

Newspapers in multiple languages

Great free, contemp  movie choices and taped shows on TV.  MSNBC

Expanded room service menu

Decent exchange rate and no fees

The coffee





From my Celebrity Equinox Transatlantic and Easter Mediterranean (25-day) Back-to-back cruises April 16-May 11, 2012

Zumba Classes

Thriller Dance lessons and performances

Equinox cast in nightly shows

Port lectures

Games

Solarium

Spa Café

Stir Fry

The Food in main dining room

The ocean café

Aft Deck-outdoors-Ocean Café

Lawn Club

Swimming Pool

Interesting Loungers in pool area

Gym towels, Cold towels

Quasar

Karaoke

Comedian, Juggler, Magician and other entertainers

The friendly, helpful staff

Beautiful ship

Line Dancing, Ballroom dancing

Welcome back to the ship red carpet service

Glass elevator

Cookies

M&Ms on ice cream sundae bar

Room service menu

Cologne/perfume shop—little room off side


Thursday, July 5, 2012

7-country, 12-night Russia & Scandinavia cruise on Aug 24-Sept 5, 2012:

In 50 days, I will take a 7-country, 12-night Russia & Scandinavia cruise.   Of note, I took this same cruise on NCL two years ago.  I will use the same great tour companies for visits to St Petersburg and Berlin.

12 nights departing August 24, 2012 on Celebrity's Celebrity Constellation



 
ITINERARY

DAY
DATE
PORT
ARRIVE
DEPART
Fri
Aug
24
4:30pm
Sat
Aug
25
At Sea
Sun
Aug
26
9:30am
Midnight
Mon
Aug
27
At Sea
Tue
Aug
28
10:00am
5:00pm
Wed
Aug
29
7:00am
Thu
Aug
30
6:00pm
Fri
Aug
31
8:00am
5:00pm
Sat
Sep
1
9:00am
4:00pm
Sun
Sep
2
At Sea
Mon
Sep
3
10:00am
6:00pm
Tue
Sep
4
At Sea
Wed
Sep
5
5:00am



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