Just booked a cruise through II

[pedro47]

2 will probably be enough, though I don't remember how many nights your cruise is. DO pay your gratuities upfront so you can have 'Select Dining' at any time instead of fixed dining schedule in the main dining room. On Solstice there is Tuscan Grille (Steakhouse), an upscale Asian restaurant and Q-Sine, which is a little quirky, but fun with a group, and a French restaurant.

I breathed a sigh of relief to not have to pack a tux. I'm more of a sport jacket & mock kind of guy. You'll see more women in cocktail dresses than dressed-up guys.

Jim

We enjoyed the Murano and the Tuscan Grille restaurants. Q Sine is very nice if you are in a group of six or more.
Plus, the one policy we enjoyed about Celebrity is their no smoking policy in their cabin and on their verandas. .

 

[VacationForever]

2 will probably be enough, though I don't remember how many nights your cruise is. DO pay your gratuities upfront so you can have 'Select Dining' at any time instead of fixed dining schedule in the main dining room. On Solstice there is Tuscan Grille (Steakhouse), an upscale Asian restaurant and Q-Sine, which is a little quirky, but fun with a group, and a French restaurant.

I breathed a sigh of relief to not have to pack a tux. I'm more of a sport jacket & mock kind of guy. You'll see more women in cocktail dresses than dressed-up guys.

Jim

My profile was already set up by Celebrity as Select Dining, and I have not prepaid gratuity.
Is there a connection?

My cruise is for 7 nights. Staying a night in Seattle before as I want to avoid the stress of a delayed flight on day of embarkment, and another 3 nights thereafter to bump around Seattle. I used to visit Seattle often when I was doing a lot of visits to Microsoft in my prior life.

 

[Passepartout]

My profile was already set up by Celebrity as Select Dining, and I have not prepaid gratuity.
Is there a connection?

My cruise is for 7 nights. Staying a night in Seattle before as I want to avoid the stress of a delayed flight on day of embarkment, and another 3 nights thereafter to bump around Seattle. I used to visit Seattle often when I was doing a lot of visits to Microsoft in my prior life.

Yeah, there at least used to be a connection, but today it is offered as a perk along with the drink packages and OBC and stuff. It's a good thing to have in case you get delayed on something in a port or just want to eat earlier or later. We like it so we can dine with different people instead of just with each other or a set table.

For a 7 night cruise, 2 specialty dinners will be enough. look over your itinerary and decide which nights you'll want those (we like the dressier nights or the ones with 'big' shows. (there will be 3). They will take reservations near the buffet on embarkation day. Here's a hint: embarkation day is a zoo if you board early with everyone waiting for their cabins to be ready. The 'Bistro on 5' restaurant, mid-ship deck 5 serves great crepes and soup/salads. It's $5pp extra, but not crowded and easy to get to. Beats battling the mob in the Oceanview buffet.

Jim

 

[VacationForever]

Here's a hint: embarkation day is a zoo if you board early with everyone waiting for their cabins to be ready. The 'Bistro on 5' restaurant, mid-ship deck 5 serves great crepes and soup/salads. It's $5pp extra, but not crowded and easy to get to. Beats battling the mob in the Oceanview buffet.

Jim

Is Oceanview buffet the same is the main dining room, and do you mean early like before dinner time? I see that the online system also allows me to make a reservation for any specific time and I thought I would reserve for 6pm on the first night.

 

[dioxide45]

I would hold off on making a dinner reservation for the first night. Many cruise lines offer specials like 2 for 1 for those willing to book a specialty restaurant for the first night. I think by two specialty diner vouchers, you mean you really only have one evening free in a specialty restaurant for two people. So I would save that for later in the week and then use the first night dinning discount to go for a second specialty dinning.

The Oceanview Buffet is on the Lido deck and is not the Main Dining Room. The buffet is always a mob scene on the first day of any cruise, on any line. We always try to avoid it. I agree with Jim's recommendation for Bistro on 5. That is what we did when we sailed on the Summit last year.

 

[Passepartout]

I'm not sure about the '2fer' on the first night. We usually just go to the main dining room (Select is on 5 Starboard- the riff-raff [just kidding] enter on 4) the first night out. 'Course there is usually a 'sail away' party on the deck bar behind the Oceanview (10) as we depart the port. Wear your Mardi-Gras beads. It's a CC custom.

I'm a little envious, but we'll be on Silhouette again in May for a 15 nite lap of the UK round trip from Amsterdam.

Jim

 

[dioxide45]

I'm not sure about the '2fer' on the first night. We usually just go to the main dining room (Select is on 5 Starboard- the riff-raff [just kidding] enter on 4) the first night out. 'Course there is usually a 'sail away' party on the deck bar behind the Oceanview (10) as we depart the port. Wear your Mardi-Gras beads. It's a CC custom.

I'm a little envious, but we'll be on Silhouette again in May for a 15 nite lap of the UK round trip from Amsterdam.

Jim

2fer may not always be the case, but we were offered 20% off first night. A lot depends on how booked up specialty dining is for that first night. It is usually the slowest night for bookings. We didn't do it, instead held out for the 2fer offered to B2B guests.

 

[VacationForever]

I'm a little envious, but we'll be on Silhouette again in May for a 15 nite lap of the UK round trip from Amsterdam.

Jim

Speak about envious. I hope to graduate to do other trips outside of the US next year. Enjoy!

Also, repositioning cruise sounds like a lot of fun.

 

[Ken555]

I agree with those who prefer sea days. I was on my first TA last spring and enjoyed. Last fall I went on a repositioning cruise from New York (well, New Jersey) to Houston via the Caribbean. This April I'm on a Florida to Spain TA and in the fall the reverse.

For those who like to be on top of price changes, I've found www.cruisefish.net to be very helpful. It's not going to alert to the minute of changes, but it will send email alerts for price changes and I find well worth the $1 per cruise to monitor. It's also free to explore prices, and nice to see historical pricing as well as which cruises are most popular (by which are monitored most, etc).


Sent from my iPad

 

[TedWater]

Congratulations on the first cruise of your retirement! I am sure you will have a wonderful time!

 

[PStreet1]

I agree with those who prefer sea days. I was on my first TA last spring and enjoyed. Last fall I went on a repositioning cruise from New York (well, New Jersey) to Houston via the Caribbean. This April I'm on a Florida to Spain TA and in the fall the reverse.

For those who like to be on top of price changes, I've found www.cruisefish.net to be very helpful. It's not going to alert to the minute of changes, but it will send email alerts for price changes and I find well worth the $1 per cruise to monitor. It's also free to explore prices, and nice to see historical pricing as well as which cruises are most popular (by which are monitored most, etc).


Sent from my iPad

Which ship are you going to Spain on? We, too, are headed for Spain in April: Vision of the Seas.

 

[beejaybeeohio]

Missed each other again!

I'm not sure about the '2fer' on the first night. We usually just go to the main dining room (Select is on 5 Starboard- the riff-raff [just kidding] enter on 4) the first night out. 'Course there is usually a 'sail away' party on the deck bar behind the Oceanview (10) as we depart the port. Wear your Mardi-Gras beads. It's a CC custom.

I'm a little envious, but we'll be on Silhouette again in May for a 15 nite lap of the UK round trip from Amsterdam.

Jim

Hi Jim,

We are on the Silhouette Edinburgh Overnight this summer which also goes around the British Isles. We are excited to attend the Tattoo and visit many new ports-though we've spent weeks in timeshares in England, Ireland and Scotland we've not visited Cobh, Belfast, Liverpool, the Guernsey & Shetland Is., and Inverness.

One of these days we'll end up on the same cruise!

 

[Ken555]

Which ship are you going to Spain on? We, too, are headed for Spain in April: Vision of the Seas.

See you on board!


Sent from my iPad

 

[Ken555]

Which ship are you going to Spain on? We, too, are headed for Spain in April: Vision of the Seas.

Enjoying the cruise? (I am!).

 

[isisdave]

Hi to Pat and Ken from Cadiz, Spain and the Eurodam.

T-mobile says that data tethering (which is free and quite speedy in the US) doesn't work outside the US, but it sure works pretty well on simpler sites, including TUG!

Dave