Kruser Karl

We found that these starboard minis on Golden had a foul sewerage smell and from a lot of reports this occurs on a few Princess ships, balcony not usable while the ship is in motion.

This wasn't the case on Voyager last month .

Purchase onboard at no extra cost the 18% gratuity is included with the package cost enjoy #bekindtoyourliver

It may well have been a repositioning cruise but it was offered in the email and as such it should have been honoured . I don't believe my comments were rude , or out of line but I suppose it depends on how where. you were brought up.

As for the changing of the web site I never claimed it was the phone rep who did this I merely commented that it had been changed within minutes of me hanging up the phone I have photographic proof ( screen shots ) as we all know a picture is worth a thousand words.

That might be because you are a day behind us here in Australia.

We received an Email offering Perks on sailings world wide and selected a 14 night Aus coast and Bali cruise ending in Singapore where the Solstice will spend a week in dry dock for maintenance.

 

When booking was told this cruise did not attract any perks as it was a repositioning cruise, we argued that this is not a true repositioning cruise and they came back with an offer of one perk and if another was wanted a cost of $20.00 PPPD. Would apply.

 

We declined their offer and directly after the call we noticed that the web site had been changed . Nowhere in the email or on their web site is this cruise called repositioning. Shonky behaviour seems you can't trust Celebrity.

We received an Email offering Perks on sailings world wide and selected a 14 night Aus coast and Bali cruise ending in Singapore where the Solstice will spend a week in dry dock for maintenance.

When booking was told this cruise did not attract any perks as it was a repositioning cruise, we argued that this is not a true repositioning cruise and they came back with an offer of one perk and if another was wanted a cost of $20.00 PPPD. Would apply.

We declined their offer and directly after the call we noticed that the web site had been changed . Nowhere in the email or on their web site is this cruise called repositioning. Shonky behaviour seems you can't trust Celebrity.

We just completed back to back cruises , on the first leg the drink of the day was $7.50 US. On the next leg the ship was at capacity with much younger passengers the price went up $2.00US to $9.50US when we queried the increase we were told it was to do with the exchange rate #Ripoff

Celebrity Solstice was in Milford sound on Saturday and Explorer of the seas on Sun seems a bit odd to me that Princess pulled the pin (Just saying).

One wonders if perhaps the Golden can't handle the bad weather as well as the Solstice.

What's wrong with cabins near the elevators?:confused:

 

 

We find that the noise of the elevator bell and the people coming and going not to our liking when we are in our stateroom. We don't mind walking and would rather choose something further away to ensure peace and quiet.

We were able to print our set sail passes last night on the PC but where the "Save and continue button should have been there was a question mark (?)

It seems to me that it is a work in progress and l feel that the web site will eventually be ok .

It would be a foolish company that made it difficult to book a cruise a bit like the local corner store having a door that's difficult to open.

The thing that annoys us is when you select a stateroom category the first offering is usually near the elevators do RCI think we are dumb ?

Hi we have not long returned from a Cruise with Avalon on the Mekong , while I can't speak about the difference in the service levels or the quality of the food I did note a difference in the size of the boats .

Avalon Angkor ( which is being replaced early next year by a similar sized but even more luxurious vessel named Avalon "Siem Reap" ) has only 32 passengers maximum , and the size of the smaller boat allows more flexibility to land nearer to the destination with out the need for bus transport , also the small number of passengers give a far more intimate feel with all the passengers becoming good friends , the ability to traverse some of the canals in the Mekong delta that the larger boats couldn't made for a more pleasant trip in my opinion .

With only 32 passengers it only takes one bus whereas on the larger boats there is a need to split into groups .

Hope this helps with your decision .

The trip is well worth doing we enjoyed ours immensely .

Karl

We are booked June 19th Southbound is there anyone out there who is traveling with us ?

Every O cruise I've been on has had one or two couples who "stand out in a crowd" in a negative way. One cruise it was a groups' dress, another cruise they were often fairly inebriated and loud. Did any of these folks hurt anyone else? NO!

 

Can't we all just move on, here? Which of us hasn't had an off day, now and again - the day we didn't have time to fix our hair just right, or the week we were behind on laundry so had to wear something we'd worn before. There's an old saying about casting the first stone. An updated version of that goes "bark less, wag more." If we'd all try to live that way, life would be easier for us all.

 

Do you mean that you have to do your own "laundry "don't you have people for that sort of thing ?

I mean to say what's the world coming too?

Karl

I can assure you of the overalls and workboot attire. Not tidy at all. It was on my cruise this May, Venice to Athens. It was a family from Canada. We met them.

 

Did if affect my meals, or or shore excursions, or my experience. Of course not, but I just thought to myself, just as if I saw them at a wedding or function dressed this way... "is that really the best they can do"?

 

But we're their overalls and work boots clean?

[quote name='Sydney32203']Karl, are you on the same cruise as I am...23 Nov 2013? My itinerary says arrival 3pm.

I dont have a Telstra sim. I'm with Vodafone AKA Vodafail :p[/QUOTE]

Oops, no we are on the 9 th Nov cruise good luck with your phone perhaps just leave it at home.
Karl

[quote name='Sydney32203']Our first stop is in Auckland arriving at 3pm. Not sure how long it will take to get off the ship but we plan to go to the Sky Tower. We will not be going on the ship excursion so not sure what else we can do on our own apart front he Sky Tower.

My plan is to get to a 2 degrees shop to buy a SIM card and get them to activate our phones. Has anyone connected to a 2 degrees SIM before? Does it take long? Can it all be done at the store? Is there a store close to the port on the way to the Sky Tower?

Also, does anyone know if we can get reception while cruising around NZ? Or just when we are in port?

Thanks.[/QUOTE]

Arrival in Auckland is scheduled for 8AM .
Your Telstra sim will work in NZ call cost around $1.80 per minute if you need to use data go to a coffee shop with Wifi
Signal from the ship while traveling is very hit and miss probably more miss .
Karl

[quote name='Kingos']Please excuse me if this has already been posted, I have had a look but couldn't see anything. I have pre paid the gratuities but would like to tip the room steward and waiter a little more. What currency do I use Aus, NZ or US?[/QUOTE]

You can give them what ever currency you have as they can spend Aus dollars in Sydney as they will be returning there all season, or US dollars on board , we have never had anyone complain when we gave a tip whatever the currency .!!!

Very disappointed to learn that a "luxury lite" cruise line has lowered its' standards.

 

Perhaps it could be called moving with the times , something a lot of people have trouble with.

My dear departed mum use to say that you can forgive someone with holes in their shoes , or even their pants but you can't forgive them if their dirty, and really who are we to judge what is right to wear and what's wrong.

Some people have scrimped and saved to be able to go on a once in a lifetime cruise and they can't afford to wear anything other than discount store clothes , those of us who can afford designer style clothes can wear these if we wish , but we have no right to judge and certainly no right to criticize

those that don't.

 

Karl.

We don't worry about what people wear at all provided they dress neatly but do not like the appearance of a huge fat person with their stomach hanging out from under their shirt,

Perhaps instead off banning jeans we should ban people with poor taste .

Karl

There were hand sanitizers on both sides of the entry into the lounge and both entry doors to the ship on the Panorama with Avalon last year, we were reminded quite regularly about using them, plus I also remember reading it in our daily newsletters.

 

Hi Tassie Travellers

You seem to have a lot of knowledge about river cruising can you tell me do they actually serve fish that has been caught from the river ?.

How many cruises have you done ?

We enjoy your posts.

Karl

We always use the train to Circular Quay quick and convenient ask for a seniors discount you might save enough to buy a coffee.