Celebration colourful coasts cruise January.....1st timers! Advice please!

[tigerhev]

Hi,

We are off on our 1st ever cruise on January 23rd onboard Celebration to the Canaries/Morocco etc.
As its our 1st time on a cruise we were wondering if anyone could give us some advice.

What to pack etc? Im not sure what the weather will be like at the end of January in the Canaries but im hoping it will be warm. Does everyone just wear what theyd wear for a package holiday? I know we need to dress up for the Captains Dinner.....I already have a frock ready and waiting! lol

Cabins. Also has anyone been on board since the re-fit?
We have pre-booked our cabin, and will be staying on Deck 7, cabin 126, has anyone ever stayed in this cabin?

What are the prices of the drinks? We didnt know whether to get the AI drinks package or not, it seems a little pricey?

Ports. I have mobility problems and wondered what the distance from the ports to the town/beach etc is in each port, will there be taxis available, is it a fair walk?
We are unsure about getting off in Morocco after reading some of the reviews, is it safe?

Sunbeds. Will there be plenty of sunbeds available on board? Weather permitting of course! Im hoping no-one gets up at 7am to put out their towels! Are beach towels provided?

Transfers. What time do you have to vacate the ship on the last day? Our flight is in the afternoon, do they transfer you at the normal time for the airport ie 2 hours before or do you have to go early with everyone else?

Spa. Does anyone have price list for spa treatments? Is there a hairdresser onboard?

Sea sickness. What is the best thing to take?

Sorry for all the questions! lol
Hope you can help.

Thanks
Heather and Tom

[SwissLe]

Welcome to the forum.

I did this cruise in November, you can take a look at my ports of call review here: http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=882892

What to pack etc?

It's normally year round sunshine in the Canary Islands. You can expect mid to high 20s during the day. The sun tends to go in early at around 4.30-5 so get out early in order to get a tan! The chill can set during the night, so if you intend to eat outside take a jumper or fleece to stick on. Inside the ship is air-conditioned so most people take something for their shoulders - the public lounges tend to be full up and warm though!

Cabins. Also has anyone been on board since the re-fit?
We have pre-booked our cabin, and will be staying on Deck 7, cabin 126, has anyone ever stayed in this cabin?

I have been on the Celebration and the Spirit. They both have very large cabins for modern cruising. They have lots of drawer and hanging space. I can't comment on your particular cabin nor can I say what changes were made since the dry dock. There are other threads on this topic though.

What are the prices of the drinks? We didnt know whether to get the AI drinks package or not, it seems a little pricey?

How much is the drinks package for you £169? If so then I wouldn't partake in it because we drank like fishes all week and still only managed to spend £200 between us. This includes alcohol and drinks during the day. A branded double spirit is £2.40 including mixer, you do the maths! Most of the branded spirits I drink weren't included and my other staple bottled water was also chargeable - you do get a discount if you are AI though!

Ports. I have mobility problems and wondered what the distance from the ports to the town/beach etc is in each port, will there be taxis available, is it a fair walk?
We are unsure about getting off in Morocco after reading some of the reviews, is it safe?

Take a look at the thread above.

Sunbeds. Will there be plenty of sunbeds available on board? Weather permitting of course! Im hoping no-one gets up at 7am to put out their towels! Are beach towels provided?

Pool/beach towels are provided on all ships. They are a good size and normally yellow or blue. These need to be returned at the end of your cruise, you even get a nice little note saying they will charge £10 if you don't. Your cabin maid will change them each evening for you.

Transfers. What time do you have to vacate the ship on the last day? Our flight is in the afternoon, do they transfer you at the normal time for the airport ie 2 hours before or do you have to go early with everyone else?

You have to vacate your cabin at 9am, irrespective of your flight time. You can pay £30 if they have allocated your cabin to someone arriving later and use it until you leave the ship - normally around 2 hours before departure. You can use the ships bars, restaurants and other facilities until you leave the ship.

Spa. Does anyone have price list for spa treatments? Is there a hairdresser onboard?

There is a hairdresser onboard, they tend to be Eastern European but quite good at what they do. A couple we met onboard went each day before dinner to have their hair done. I don't have a price list but they are quite on the high side compared to onshore.

Sea sickness. What is the best thing to take?

I have been on many cruises with first timers and often find myself dishing out my 'cure'. I once worked on a ship and the doctor used to always recommend and inject Promethazine Theoclate which is avaliable in a couple of branded treatments but Avomine always tends to be my choice, it's cheap too! Do a search on the net. Take one a day before you leave and one every day and you will cruise through a force 9 without even realising the boat is moving.

[skoozie]

Hi there I have just come back from this cruise. I did enjoy it and would possibibly go again however we did have issues with Thomsons over some of the trips. Also the rudeness of some of the "sagalouts" absolutely amazed me. They tend to do a lot of hanging around in the bars taking up all the seats doing nothing. We wanted a coffee on our at sea day and one couple were taking up 8 :eek: seats, an entire corner section of the bar.

Most of the passengers are quite old and seem to spend a lot of time cruising. They act like they own the place. They were "usually "just about civil to me and my husband but often downright rude to my children (21 and 18) Many of them seem to have forgotten how to behave I am glad I didn't take younger children.My children behave as I do and hold doors open, queue rather than push to the front, stand back to let people get in and out of lifts etc and certainly wouldn't ever dream of loudly voicing comments about what people were wearing.

Regarding your specific questions:

What to pack etc?
I think we were unlucky with the weather. Morroco was warm after about 11.30 and we did have a couple of sunny afternoons when we struggled to find a sun bed! I wore my jeans t shirt and fleece most of the time. My "summer beachy type stuff "returned unworn.

Cabins. Also has anyone been on board since the re-fit?
We have pre-booked our cabin, and will be staying on Deck 7, cabin 126, has anyone ever stayed in this cabin?

I dont know about your cabin but ours hadn't been refurbished. It was ok though.

What are the prices of the drinks? We didnt know whether to get the AI drinks package or not, it seems a little pricey?

Hmm one of the things we enjoy on holiday are the cocktails. The price of these was £3.50 -£4 fair enough we thought until we drank them. They were very poor. None of them used fresh fruit they depended on huge dollops of flavoured syrups and sours and were very watery. They did have cherries fruit pieces umbrellas sticks etc on the bars but only once in the whole week did they use them and then I had to ask specifically. The alcohol content seemed very low which we confirmed by watching them being made... a scant splash!! The bars varied though, the best was Horizons and the worst Broadway but on any given day it could be a different guy so you couldn't really predict a decent cocktail. The only really decent drinks we had were in Liberties one night when the bar tender made them as we said as they weren't on the menu.Beers and straight drinks are better value. I would not bother with the AI as you still have to pay a supplement for many of the drinks anyway.

Ports. I have mobility problems and wondered what the distance from the ports to the town/beach etc is in each port, will there be taxis available, is it a fair walk?
We are unsure about getting off in Morocco after reading some of the reviews, is it safe?

Taxis at every port. We arranged hire car in tenerife it was sat waiting for us. If we went again would do this more MUCH better option. Morrocco we went with Thomson was very safe just everywhere shut grr

Sunbeds. Will there be plenty of sunbeds available on board? Weather permitting of course! Im hoping no-one gets up at 7am to put out their towels! Are beach towels provided?

Big black towels provided. Too cold for pool so didn't really use them. Did have a couple of afternoons when tried to find a sunbed to sit on. Unlike on Escape which we went on last year that had the crew removing towels these were left. Saturday we couldn't find a bed for love nor money all had towels books etc left on them.

Transfers. What time do you have to vacate the ship on the last day? Our flight is in the afternoon, do they transfer you at the normal time for the airport ie 2 hours before or do you have to go early with everyone else?

In theory they said luggage outside door the night before, vacate cabin at 8. What we did was booked another day cabin from 10-4 for £20 and moved out of our 2 and into that one at about 9.45 We took our bags over to terminal around 4 and left the ship around 5.00 our flight was 7.40

One thing that annoyed me about this was we could have stayed in one of our own cabins it wasn't booked to anyone although they said it was. We had to pull all our stuff into corridor. They then cleaned all cabins let us have one down the hall and stuck a courtesy cabin notice on ours:mad::rolleyes: how stupid is that the one they moved us to could just have easily been the courtesy cabin grr



Sea sickness. What is the best thing to take

We took sturgeron which is available from reception. This worked for 3 of us but my daughter had to have an injection. My daughter was given Phenergen by the ships nurse it cost £30


I don't know how old you are but i'm sure you'll have a lovely time.

We did,we dressed up most nights. Zillis is the best. Say hi to Brik Michael and Jerry from my daughter Kiah They absolutely made our holiday and her 18th birthday in particular. The lido is like a canteen and the Meridien is HUGE our holiday improved once we discovered Zillis. Its more like going to a restaurant.

Any questions ask away. Oh and BTW the sound system in the Broadway Lounge is dire. We found out purely by chance talking to the staff the best place to sit is on the mezzanine level in front of the bar. We tried it and it was much better there;) The Africa show is good but the best for us was the night the crew performed as by then they were our friends. Check out youtube for crewcut they were fab.

[marylizcat]

Oh dear, we are going with our children aged 20 and 23! Have to hope they get more mixed ages over New Year! You read a lot about problems with old folk on cruise ships. And then the elderly get very upset and post rude comments back....... But clearly it can be a problem. And yes, we do know that we too will be old one day! I think a lot is down to poor sight and hearing. Hence they don't realise you can hear their comments and push in because they don't see you.

Anyway, I was thinking of hiring a car in Tenerife. Who did you book it through? I was looking at Holiday Autos, who seem to have an option to collect at the harbour.

Which trip did you do in Morocco? Was everything shut because it was a bank holiday or because it is winter?

What was wrong with other Thomson trips, so we know what to avoid?

Glad to hear it was a good holiday overall though!

Hope OP doesn't mind me butting in on this thread.

[tigerhev]

Hi,

Thanks everyone for your replies.
We are only in our 40s so am a bit worried about the ship being full of pensioners! :rolleyes:

Is anyone else going on this cruise in January?
We were hoping for some decent weather, hopefully by the end of January the weather will be better.

Thanks again.
Any more info from anyone would be great.

Hev

[skoozie]

Don't worry you will have a good time, we did, inspite of rather than because of our fellow passengers. My kids played lets see if we can spot anyone in their teens and twenties and failed miserably. My son finally paid to put an addy in cruise news for anyone under the age of 25 to meet in liberties that night at 11. Problem was they misprinted it so no one knew when to go:rolleyes:

I think there will be more young people over christmas and new year although Uni had broken up when we went my daughter had to take time out of college.

We hired our car from Avis but did it via Thomsons as saved us arranging it as had forgotten to do it before we left and mobile phone reception was extremely inreliable the whole trip. It was at the bottom of steps waiting for us, unfortunately it had to be returned to Avis which is on the far side of the port so my husband and son got absolutely soaking wet walking back. It was quite funny my daughter and I were all dressed up sipping cocktails and in they come freezing cold soaking wet and looking as if they had been dragged through a hedge backwards :) Needless to say that solicited yet more dirty looks but by then we were used to it ha ha.

We were unlucky with holidays I can't remember which was which now, but there was one in La Palma so limited shops cafes open only. One in Madeira same thing and one in Morrocco. It wasn't Thomsons fault but our main grouse was we hadn't been told. Other people showed us a letter they had been given before Morrocco saying everything would be closed. Some of them cancelled at that point(wise decision) and got their money back. Thomson desk admitted two lots of people hadn't been sent the letter but refused us a refund it wasn't just the money either it was a complete waste of time on one of our few sunny mornings when we could have been sun bathing rather than sat in coach. Lanzarote trip also a waste of time wine tasting was 2 wines in a vastly overpriced gift shop after which we had to sit in coach for half an hour as guide said he wasn't allowed to take us back to ship too early.

We were definitely unlucky with weather everyone said it has been a bad autumn early winter this year and is usually sunny and warm so you should be ok. It can't stay rubbish for ever:)

[marylizcat]

Skoozie - thanks for your reply. La Palma is a Sunday, so probably will be mostly shut anyway. We also have New Year's day In Lanzarote, so I expect that will be shut too. However we want to do the Fire Mt trip there, so shouldn't matter. Was the wine tasting there part of another excursion or an excursion in its own right?

[happidaze]

OMG! Now you have me worried, we are off on the Celebration tomorrow for a week with our lads being 16 and 14!
When we went 2 years ago in November it was mostly elderly onboard. I only hope as it is Christmas, more their age will be about.
At the end of the day, we all have just as much right to choose to cruise as the older generation.

[jilljoy]

we have been on this cruise for the last 2 januarys and there was a mixed bag of age groups onboard,last year our 20 yr old daughter came as well and she thought it was great,even though i thought she would be board as she is a party animal.
the weather can be mixed and we never really had great weather,moroco is usually the best weather.
i wouldnt worry about the clientel being too old,we never found this to be the case.

you will love it im sure

[skoozie]

[quote=marylizcat;17350965Was the wine tasting there part of another excursion or an excursion in its own right?[/quote]

It was part of another excursion. If we ever go again we will be hiring a car. We only did it for Tenerife which cost 56 euro all in!:) Thomson trips were minimum of £30 each. Had tenerife been our first rather than last day would have gone the car route all week except Morrocco.