QE2_Fan

I don't want to end up like the lady's partner (boy toy?!) who seemed more interested ensuring they had the best position to get plenty of free booze at the captains cocktail party, than meeting the captain but otherwise has not cracked a smile or made eye contact with the camera. I'm sure that's not heat a Princess cruise does to a man, but boy it's a worry [emoji16][emoji13][emoji15]

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That 'first' would definitely be worth capturing Dancinman66!! Lucky you to be on that, have a great cruise...post some of your shots here when you get back!!

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That is a huge amount of work. Do those prices include the 15% gratuity? And if you have the 123GO promotion do you have to pay the 15% on top?

 

 

 

Thanks in advance for your answers.

When you have the drink package either thru the 123GO or paid for, the 15% service fee is included, you don't pay it again. Whilst the package includes it, I don't think the drink menu prices include it, so if you paid as you go, a drink listed as $8 would in effect cost $8 + 15% , so $9.20.

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A great deal! But my August cruise was $249. My Jan cruise rates aren't posted yet, but I bet they will be more The cruise is two weeks! I'll be sick of smiling lol:)

I was expecting $249 or $349 even based on earlier info so was a nice surprise. It will be easy to smile in the shots as I'll be thinking what a bargain they are lol [emoji16][emoji12]

Not sure why they have dropped the price, hope the photo ops haven't reduced also although being our first time we won't know any better and will make the most of it for sure!!

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Hey Azudo!

You are in good hands here to get some great tips and ideas as I have been lucky to receive!

But as Astro Flyer suggest it will depend to a large degree on what you want to get out do the visit. Go and do some research on the sites and guises they've suggested and then get a feel for the activities or sights you may want to include. Being their overnight you have the luxury to also do some activities that we had to miss being there only for a day. A sunrise or sunset at Haleakala crater would be awesome, or so,e nightlife on Lahania, a Luau etc are all options. Good luck with getting your itinerary on order, rest assured you won't run out of things to do!!

I paid $249 for celebrity CD and hard copies. This price has been the same for the silhouette, reflection and summit. I paid the same on the allure for hard copies only. It does vary. Less people take pics on celebrity in general, many more or RC and Disney. My cruise photos also is offered on Disney cruises.

Celebrity have just had packages released for late SEP and OCT. The rates have dropped!!:eek:

10 digital photo option is $175

ALL digital photos + Prints is $200

I have just ordered the ALL +Prints pkg for our 17 night cruise for $200...that seems a bargain - even if they don't take as many shots as RCI even formal nights and port shots etc will still provide a healthy portfolio to wade through !! :D

QE2 Fan

 

When I did the workshop we tasted from a standard and then a appropriate Riedel glass. The improvement in the taste of the wine was noticeable.

Each participant has 4 different Reidel glasses and 1 "joker" glass (this is your standard inexpensive wine glass). The wine is poured into the "joker" glass first, tasted and then transferred into the appropriate Reidel glass

Thanks for the extra detail, it sounds a great experience and will definitely be booking this for my wife and I!

I have an 'aerator' device I use at home that is meant to assist improve some wines - similar to decanting but is used for cheaper/younger wines. I laugh as whilst I have tried it with the 'joker' glass concept and DO believe there is an improvement - I've had many friends that just try the aerated wine and exclaim what a difference it makes. But how would they know without a comparison!? :confused::D

I found there were several wine events offered with one as little as $15 pp.

I've also seen mention of the other events and I'm up for trying all being a first timer on Celebrity. I really would love to do the Conisseur Wine Dinner but not seen that 'officially' mentioned - I'll just keep an eye out when on board.

I attended the workshop and was surprised how much the taste was affected by the type or shape of the glass. I was very skeptical prior to attending the workshop. The workshop was very enjoyable and I now use Reidel glasses when enjoying wine.

When you do the work shop do you taste and compare each wine in both a ,standard' and Riedel glass? I'm thinking if you just try everything in their own stemware how sure are you really of the improvement they make?

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A mention was made about the wine connoisseur dinner. We booked this while on board. Along with the dinner we also received one other wine event free. The dinner itself was attended by 10 couples and was held in the Tuscan Grill. The evening started in Celler Masters around 7:30 and ended just before midnight. It was a wonderful evening of good food, good wine, and great company with lots of laughter.

Now that sounds awesome, even better than the chefs table evening that some lines offer. Would love to know of this is a new regular offering by Celebrity or just another 'trial' event. We are on Solstice on October and I would book this in a flash! We have heaps of stemware already but the Riedel workshop sounds fun so will likely book that also! Like the combination of good wine, good food and great company!!

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And if you did want to prebook to online I think all reservations (dining, drink pkgs etc) have to be completed prior to 4 days to departure ...which sounds like you a out to hit so only option is the. To just book and pay onboard.

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Since it is about $350 on oasis, should I wait until the cruise to book? Also, I read it is buy a cd get a second half off for families traveling in multiple staterooms (not a family in 2 rooms).

I believe others on this thread have advised that is cheaper to pre-purchase - prices can be more expensive once on board for the photo packages.

The info for families travelling together can be found here:

http://support.mycruisephotos.com/support/solutions/folders/48484

I don't know why but they have this info 'hidden' behind their login page - unless you know the link (the above will take you there without having to log on). Seems it would help a lot of people (like myself) to know up front!!

Cheers.

And for Celebrity - they do not appear to have as many options to choose from - but overall are <much> cheaper for the ALL digital photos + Prints option. Hope that goes for my cruise when it becomes available :D

NOTE: I have just looked at some random ships/sailings- this is not a complete list but assume it is similar for most.

SOLSTICE 11 days, 7Days/SUMMIT 7 Days/MILLE 7 Days/REFLECTION 10 Days/EQUINOX 14 Days

10 Digital Photos

All Digital Photos + Prints

INFINITY 11 Days

10 Digital Photos

ALL Digital Photos + Prints

CENTURY 7 Days

ALL Prints (no digital copies)

Where did you find this price? We're on Oasis 8/16 and it's listing the prices as $349.99 for all digitals and $474.99 for all digitals & cd .

Yeah I just logged onto mycruisephotos.com and selected a few different ships and cruise dates - the site asks for your name and cruise reservation but its not validated so XXX and YYYY worked just fine:D

Once logged on you can check the 'PRODUCTS' offered and then up top right corner you can CHANGE the cruise to another date or vessel.

Oasis/Allure are both more expensive and have the most options.

Freedom seems next expensive

Then seems the default packages on other ships - even with mixed duration of 7, 9 or even 12 day sailings all having the same price. :confused::)

NOTE: I have just looked at some random ships/sailings- this is not a complete list but assume it is similar for most.

Allure 7 Day 17-24Aug, Oasis 7 day 16-23 Aug

Also offer a 'PHOTO BOOK' but did not list price. I would do this back home anyway!

15 digital photos

20 digital photos

ALL digital photos

ALL Digital Photos + Prints

Freedom 7 days 17-14 Aug:

10 digital photos

15 digital photos

ALL digitalphotos

ALL Digital Photos + Prints

Explorer 9 Days - 14-23Aug, Liberty 7 days 17-14 Aug, Serenade 12 days 15-27 Aug

10 Digital photos

ALL Digital Photos

ALL Digital Photos + Prints

Thanks for he quick response! Yes overall if will be great to get some family shots and we've all bought our formal gear, so to see my 10yo son all suited up in his tuxedo will indeed be priceless!

But I must've been hopeful, naive or bit of both as was rally expecting them to use the cruise ship more as backdrop, as you say we are on a cruise after all!! But the white screen backdrop will be great, that style always looks classic.

I will try and get chatty with a photographer and see if they are 'cruising' around the ship we may be able to bump into the and get some snaps that way :D

Great information here, thanks to all that have contributed!!

A couple of questions .....

1) I note a lot of backdrop shots are done, pic of the ship, moonlight etc but sorry this seems a bit tacky to me. Do they offer 'real' background opportunities like out on deck in the moonlight, a particular area on deck with a nice natural background (ships wake?) etc? They would be a bit more natural than the canvas backgrounds that in reality you could be anywhere.

2) can you ask them to do something like the above if it's not standard? Would they be happy to oblige and these shots would still be in included within the package or would they deem these as 'special/private' shots?

We are cruising on Celebrity Solstice in October as a family of four and from all I've seen of her she's a beautiful ship and would love to have her integrated into our portraits as much as possible!

Cheers

Matt

There is a "Revealed" series of guidebooks for each island ((Maui Revealed, etc) which led me to discover new places to visit. As long as you heed their warnings about checking weather conditions you'll have a great time. It's probably more information than you need for a one-day visit however if you return I would highly recommend these guidebooks.

 

On the north end of Ka'anapali Beach is the area they call Black Rock which when the conditions are right is an excellent spot to snorkel. In the middle of Ka'anapali Beach is the outdoor Whalers Village shopping center which contains retail shops and restaurants plus a free whaling museum. That's also where the public parking lot is located & many of the restaurants validate to give you a couple hours of free parking. There is a public parking lot for Black Rock near the Sheraton hotel however it's much smaller and more difficult to find a parking spot. One of our favorite places to eat is Hula Grill's Barefoot Bar where you sit at tables in the sand under umbrellas across from the beach. Sometimes even during the daytime they have free live entertainment & it's a fun spot to eat and have drinks.

 

Sounds like a great plan & having enough time to be flexible and to comfortably get back on the ship. If you want to enjoy Hawaiian music tune to KPOA 93.5 & if there's a major accident you may learn about it to adjust your plans accordingly.

Wow I must say thanks again for the insider tips!! It's what makes this place such a great place to share information!

The hints for guidebooks is great (we have downloaded the GyPSie app for this trip) and particular regarding parking is awesome as appreciate in many instances there is little public parking, particularly around the more built up resort areas.

And the tip on Whalers Village...I am hoping my lovely wife will be shopped out from Waikiki else she might request a one way shuttle straight to the shops!! Lol! If we don't drop off the car earlier to get the last shuttle back to Lahania then sounds like some nice spots for our last meal on land for a week!! KPOA 93.5 will get programmed into the radio prior to leaving the car lot [emoji2]

The car hire shuttle is great but yes as the last one is quite early in the afternoon (our ship doesn't leave until 9pm) I did not want our days plans to be restricted by that so checked they are good with late returns and booking a taxi to take us back into town. But now with our revised plans it could even work out for the best where we hang out on lovely Lahaina town for a couple of hours. I'm happy now that we have the flexibility to change our minds whereas I appreciate our earlier plans were rather restricted and time sensitive.

Thanks again!! Matt

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Thanks again guys!! We will have had a week in Waikiki prior to the cruise, and I have had to do up a schedule to work out what spare time we have lol! We are so excited as I've been to Hawaii before but first time for the rest of the family. I fell in love with her back then and know the family will feel the same! My wife is already taking about a 'regular' trip...so next time defiantly more time on the Islands!! I'm happy with the revised itinerary and yes can keep the afternoon leg a little more flexible...although as the car drop off is in Kaanapali it makes sense to make our beach stop up that way also. I have been looking at Napali Bay for a bit of a snorkel and leisurely swim. But if we are back in that area we can change our minds and do any of a few ideas....as you say at lest we will be nearby and ready to head back to the ship nice and early! I def don't want to miss her and have to find my own way to Tahiti!! So thanks again and ALOHA!!

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Well thank you both Astro Flyer and Susan-M to have replied so quickly! I think I needed that reality check lol

I am normally not one of those that trys to see to much, remembers too little but the beauty of Maui seems to have got the better of me! I am keen to visit the Iao Valley but we might then head up to Haleakala straight after during the day...then we have the whatever time left to chill out and visit a beach or have a look around Lahaina town itself.

The suggestions for lunch and winery visit have been duly noted for inclusion in the itinerary also;):p

Aloha!

Hi all we are docking (or tendering) at Lahaina for the day, schedule 0800am to 9.00pm.

I was planning to hire a car and take the family to Iao Needle for a quick look, then was looking at backtracking slightly to possibly Kihei or further down for a bit of time at the beach , something to eat etc. Now I was then considering of hitting Haleakala crater...either mid afternoon or even timing things so we were up there for sunset just after 6pm. This would still give me just on 2 hours to get back to Lahaina, do an after hours drop off of the car, grab a taxi back to the pier to grab one of the last tenders back to the ship....Phew! I've mapped it out in google maps and the driving times seem reasonable.

So I was wondering for those that are a little more experience than me (1st time to Maui!) is the itinerary overall too aggressive? Or is the sunset option a bit too risky, or should be fine if I'm happy for a long day and driving Back in the dark etc? And the BIG question is it even worth it to hang out for the sunset up at Haleakala..as I've heard mostly the sun rise is to die for....

I am ok with driving and really want to make the most of our 1 day in Maui, without feeling we see are madly rushing about trying to squeeze too much in. lol I was looking at the road to Hana as well at one point and that's when I said woah boy!!

A completely different option is to head over to Lanai island doe some snorkelling, but we wil be doing a lot of that in Oahu,and then on Tahiti in between all our sea days back to Australia so thought staying on land would be a good idea!

Thanks for any and all Input!!

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Kids are kids and they love to do tricks and jumps into the pool and mostly we are not talking crazy dangerous stunts!! Am surprises as the sever cut though from hitting the edge...I would think a decent bump and bruise...but is the ledge sharp in some way?? Glad both stunt persons are doing well and sure will love telling the story to their friends!!

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Hi Robin. I've heard that Royal Caribbean have recently changed their rules to allow children under 12 to dine at speciality restaurants, with kids menus and prices also...but I believe they must dine before 7pm or thereabouts. Now Celebrity and Royal don't do everything the same but often they do 'copy' eaxh other ..like the implementation of the recent online cruise calendar ....so maybe Celebrity have followed suit with the under 12 dining policy....but alas no surprises that they have not done a good job in communicating the change. Time will tell [emoji5]️[emoji6]

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Hi

If you purchase it online before you cruise, it will be charged to your card at that time.

You can book/prepay up until 4 days prior to your cruise so you can wait a bit...or even just book it onboard..if you have any OBC you can use some do that to pay for it and leave your card some room to breathe until you have to pay for your onboard account at end of your cruise [emoji2]

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Well SLUSH has my attention [emoji38]That drink menu sounds pretty good...I'd be quite happy working through most of those [emoji39][emoji2] thanks for the pics and details!!

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I can't believe that I can't figure this out but I have not been able to open any of the calculators. I have XL and open PDF's all day long but when I click on any of the links posted here, they don't open. Can someone help me out with this?

Hi John

It's a bit hard to day without knowing exactly what your doing, what platform (PC, Mac, smart device etc) however I've tested the link and it works fine on all of these. Maybe try to download the calculator first by right clicking the link and 'save target as'....but make sure you keep the '.xlsx' extension on the end so it knows it should open in EXCEL. I think I recall reading elsewhere on cruise critic that sometimes opening/saving filed from here it 'drops' the extension making it an 'unknown' file type.

Cheers Matt

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I don't think it is a browser issue at all (yet!) Simply Celebrity have decided to upgrade the MY Celebrity site and not all cruises/reservations are yet updated.

They probably run a script or something in the background to convert current data into the new layout. Explains why working for some and not for others (myself included).

Why they have done this midweek, why on top of the only recent launched 123GO program, why have they done it without any communication (its not like they'd not have our email address) or web page notification????????? :confused: - well they are the REAL questions that if answered will lead us to the Holy Grail:D