debstep

We are staying at Holiday Inn the Rocks, watch the ship come in from rooftop pool and closest to OPT . 11 days to go

Anniversary at Tuscan Grill on Solstice this year, both the fish, dry, and steak super tough inedible. Waiter spilt red wine all over tablecloth my side and didnt even apologise just walked off. Only bad time or meal in 3 weeks on ship, everywhere else excellent, already booked Solstice again but not Tuscan.

Hope the OPT is al finished & ready for us on Sunday! looking forward to see the upgrades.

 

No red carpet required from Gbenjo if he is there, I'll be happy to just get aboard, wether it's via carpet, tile or just plain old lino!! :D

 

Look after our lady Solstice, we board in just over 2 weeks.

BTW- Graham I noticed 2 suites have come open- one for you and one for us- well done there :p !!

Thanks all for the replies :)

Hi graham

I question has come up in a group I am in for our upcoming cruise- wondering if you know the answer since you work at the terminal for RCL lines?

 

"Celebrity states you can bring two bottles of wine onboard, however the Overseas Passenger Terminal website has this notice -

What NOT to bring

You are NOT permitted to bring any alcohol onboard for personal consumption. Duty-free, tax-free and personal alcohol purchased onshore must be surrendered by passengers at embarkation or prior to boarding at any port. http://www.sydney.com/…/transpo…/overseas-passenger-terminal"

 

I was under the impression also that we can bring 2 personal bottles on board through the terminal- Can you help please?

If I get on that ship and your in a Suite!!!

All good totally trust you (does that work?) ... I am sure our S1 will be waiting for us

Truth be told we'll probably miss you, I reckon we'll be there about 1.30-2 as our flight is in at 12.30.

Was looking forward to the red carpet :(

I am all for everyone loving themselves, as long as we grab the upgrade lol.

 

To be honest, we have a big angled Balcony and I wouldn't want to change to anything except a suite, since that's 3 grades above us I am not expecting it.

Truthfully, would just like to do a Gbenjo check in if we get there early enough

Good plan, working on check-in the day you depart. Can take advantage of any last minute upgrades that appear. ;)

 

Oh No, your saving them for us aren't you ;)

Interesting conversation with a Royal Caribbean rep the other week- we were noting that their new ships are getting slightly smaller again- as he put it the most recent is - "more like if Celebrity Solstice and Oasis of the Seas had a child". It seems the focus may be changing again?

I was planning to go on board around one ish but will play it a bit by ear. I thought possibly if I went on early and sat around one of the bars anyone (that I checked in)who "wanted to" would have the opportunity to buy me a drink in gratitude:D:D:D I do not want to rob them of that chance:rolleyes:

 

The 2:30 check in time that is on your Guest Ticket Booklet is only a recommended time and usually by 2:30 the majority of guests are on board so if you wanted to board earlier I cannot see a problem. As I usually say "ask for Suzie and tell her Benjo sent you." ;);)

 

Sounds great, we are flying down so won't get there til 1.30 earliest, will start trolling the bars when we're on board just in case

Just wondering Graham what time you will be checking people in til on 3 April as you are also sailing on our voyage, since our stateroom is on 8 our check-in time is 2.30- We are devastated that there is a chance we will miss the Gbenjo experience?

Thank you Gary, Peggy and Tom

cheers

Debi

I really wasn't going to get into this apart from the question I asked a couple of pages ago, but seeing the feeds coming through to my email since I just have to say some things before leaving this thread for good- and I am aware after this post some will say good riddance to me- that's OK.

 

Firstly, THANK-YOU very much to those who tried to genuinely answer my question, you help was invaluable :):)

however-

 

1. People come to this thread for genuine help, they get contradictory views (no problem) delivered by scathing, self-righteous bigots on BOTH sides of the fence with personal attacks on each other ranging from not only the 'topic' at hand but at their lifestyle, values, even spelling and grammar.

 

2. This behavior does not win any 'converts', mostly it makes the rest of us feel hopeful we never have to spend time with the perpetrators on a cruise, or anywhere else for that matter.

 

3. Anyone who feels they can speak for their country, perhaps check with the other millions first ie. "In Australia people don't wear ties unless a school formal /fancy dress" - I have been to many many functions both day and night where suits and ties are worn, and many where they are not both city and country.

 

4. I am sorry but WHAT is the photo above supposed to mean to any side of your 'argument', is this on a formal night in the MDR? No? Then it is completely irrelevant.

 

Finally- WHERE ARE THE MODERATORS OF THIS THREAD please intercede, all it is doing is putting people off Celebrity Cruises due to bad behavior .

 

BTW does anyone know how to stop this just this thread feeding me alerts? The others I watch I want to keep, they are positive and helpful and fun and make me look forward to my next cruise.

 

By the way thanks, for giving me your name, I may not be able to organize someone getting an upgrade but I can certainly suggest who DOESN'T get one.:D

 

Oh you are so EVIL- love it:D:D:D:D:D

Damn, I knew there would be someone smart enough to see through my devious plan..bugger;). The funny thing is that the view of the Opera House is no big deal for me as I see it every day that I work at the OPT and in fact I was hoping the Solstice would stay stern in for our cruise so I could sit on our balcony and laugh and wave to all the other people working in the terminal while I knock back a coldiel:D:D

 

PS I am a bit confused She was not in Sydney in August???????:confused: or did you mean October or November??

 

Its OK Graham

Since our cabin will now be on the Wharf side, you can use our balcony to pull faces if you like ;)

Deb & Step

We took a taxi from OPT to the domestic airport on Monday 15th December.

Left the OPT just before 9am I am guessing something like 8.50am, traffic was reasonable and it came to just over $70. It was the day of the martin place siege but we were at the airport before it would have affected the roads.

We shared the taxi with another couple who we had met on a day tour of Noumea so the cost was equal to the train. Hopefully Good Friday there wont be much traffic.

 

Thats my issue with the Taxi's, they say $40, even confirmed when Graham checked then charged someone $70 for a straight trip without traffic jams, how do they justify that?

Hi Graham

Can I ask why the recent change? Do you have any scuttlebut as to why please.

Solstice used to always be stern in but now seems to be coming in bow first since a couple of weeks ago?

Happy Australia day to all :)

We'll be in that with bells on :)

Great to see people having fun, though I must admit, after some of the negative reactions on this thread I am a little concerned about our upcoming trip now, are the usual Celebrity 'luxury cruisers' too stuck-up for this sort of fun for 5 minutes in the day?

Who are majority, those who say there is 'no place' for it or people like us who like to see enjoyment???

thanks a bucket-load for that

great news

taxi it is :)- see you on the 3rd

Graham i can see why your so popular, you are awesome to have done that for us!

Thanks Graham for the reply

I must admit reading this I hope we do get a chance to meet you at check in and had noticed that you are on 'our' cruise. Was looking at shuttles and cars, we had been told a taxi would be about 70-80 dollars on Good Friday(??) as they charge double so thinking of a pre-pay so we don't get a surprise-

 

Yes we over-pack, probably always will, you should have seen the first cruise we did! If I get it down to 2 I will be bringing the extra one packed inside the others for coming home anyway, we are shocking at picking up souvenirs. You learn every time, last time from Brisbane we learnt that hubby should not wear his nice shirt that happened to have a certain plant pictured on it, as the customs office said, of course we were going to get full search with that- hilarious until..... they found his cigarettes that he was supposed to have given up at the time, whoops. just normal ones and customs didn't care except for apologising for getting him in trouble.

BTW- hubby takes at least 60% of the bag space you know, don't just blame me. Lucky we are flying down business class and i already paid for lots of luggage back from Hawaii.

Hi

New posters here on this thread, just read the whole thing. We are going to be on our first Celebrity Cruise on 3 April, also our first from OPT, we have used only White bay in Sydney before. We can't get the Celebrity Shuttle from the airport as our flight comes in 5 minutes after the 12.30 cutoff time so looking to get ourselves to the wharf. Have been advised that the train may be our best option, we will have 3 bags plus carry on between 2 of us- can anyone please help with advice on ease of use, where does it stop in relation to the terminal, price of train and also of taxi's (being good Friday is a worry here)also will services be running as per normal or should we book a car service?

Thanks for your help :)

Deb & Step

Qld

Thanks for the help :)

Hi
I have tried reading a lot of this post and don't want to spark an issue, just clarifying I have it right as we are Aussies doing our first Celebrity cruise (I am aware this may spoil us for our old ones) in April from Sydney to Honolulu so need to think about flights back and baggage. From what I gather from comments-
18 night cruise we will have 3-4 formal nights
Formal dress is required in the MDR only on those nights not throughout the ship
My husband can't wear a tie, however a suit jacket nice shirt and pants will be fine as will a cocktail/formal dress for me
Rest of the time we can stay smart casual- Long pants/collared or Polo shirt for him and skirt/top or pants suit for me in the evening.
That will carry us through
Thanks
Deb & Step