A Tale of Two Cruises

As we previously mentioned – the Trans-Atlantic (T-A) and Norway portions of our cruise couldn’t have been more different.  To begin – on the T-A, it was mostly a peaceful sailing.  We had a huge number of Captain’s Club members – enough Elite and Elite Plus that we got coupons for our drinks instead of the normal Sky Lounge at night.  That made it nice in that we could go to virtually any bar and cash in one of our coupons between 5 and 7.  So we ended up with a lot of cabin beer and wine for after shows, etc.  Never a problem at the bars, always good service, and the shows were the traditional 7p and 9p – although the Captain’s welcome drink may have been a little later. For 14 days we coexisted nicely with a broad swath of Canadians, Brits, Germans and French (enough of the latter two that the announcements were in English, German and French).

All that changed in Southampton.  We had heard that Celebrity had started “giving away” the drink packages for these cruises (all is relative – you pay more for the cruise – but you get the drink package).  All around the ship, numbers like 2100, 2500, etc., people have the package. Well, that’s basically the whole ship – except the two of us!  So , we were a little concerned.  We ended up getting drink coupons again for this cruise because allegedly they didn’t want to close the sky lounge while we were sailing through the Fjords. But – as it turned out – that was just marketing spin.  They couldn’t afford to close any lounge because they had so many drink packages sold they needed every able bartender and server to accommodate these people who were drinking non-stop. 

The coupons worked fine on this portion – so not a problem. BUT – a funny thing happened on the way to Norway…..on the turnover day in Southampton – suddenly – all new bar menus appeared.  Drinks were all a minimum of 25 to 50% more expensive!  WHAT?????  Some bottles of wine were WAY pricier.  What is going on?  Well, suddenly, there is also no mention of the standard 15% tip.  Uh huh….yeah…coz Europeans don’t usually tip because their servers/workers are paid a living wage not like these folks on the ships who rely on tips to get by.  But…that aside (because we get that!), Celebrity didn’t just raise the prices 15% - it was way more.  And who do you think is getting the extra?  We can quite guarantee it’s not the wait staff…..sigh, fume, fuss…..Totally irritating.

Then comes the buffet food.  While boring (because it was basically the same every day, just a few variations), now it is more British.  Ew…breakfast is blood pudding and baked beans and all that stuff.  Lunch is always mushy peas.  I get to the point where I’m stealing apples and peanut butter from breakfast and picnicking upstairs in the café at lunch!  I can’t eat another scoop of chicken salad – even though it’s good. 

Next – show times.  Since Southampton, the shows are at 8:30 and 10:30.  Oh come on!  And any music?  10:45 or 11:30.  Liar’s club?  11:30.  Mr. and Mrs. (the newly named newlywed game)?  11:30 also.  Oh, and then there’s the Motown night, where we might have actually gone had it been on the night before a late port day – but since we were docking at 7am the next morning –who in the heck is going to stay up until all hours of the night to listen to music and see the dancers – and then have to get up at 6am to be out early at port?  Not us obviously – and obviously we were in the minority.  I guess these guys just party all the time and don’t care if they miss a port or only see a few hours of it.  Ok – so we’ll admit it – we aren’t the staying up all night people we used to be, and we’d like to at least hear some music that isn’t Perry Grant.  And we are probably unusual in that we are on this ship to actually go someplace and see the ports and try to experience all we can off the ship.  And good thing we feel that way – because otherwise – it would have definitely been a big disappointment on the last 8 days.

Bottom line? We had a fabulous time – the entire cruise – but we sure enjoyed the T-A a lot more than the Norway portion. And, we’ll think twice about booking anything that goes in or out of Southampton in the future if, as we fear, the entertainment, food and drink package situation is same.