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AntjeG

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Posts posted by AntjeG

    Help! I am having a panic attack!

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    don´t worry about the room - it will be great.

    I just returned from a Solstice cruise in an inside stateroom on deck 3 (should have been right opposite your oceanview I think).

    Stateroom has the same size than the rooms on other decks. You only have to walk a few steps to guest relations, MDR, Grand Foyer. No noise in the stateroom. I loved that room.

    Solstice Live: Australia/NZ/Hawaii, Many Pix’s, Jan. 20-Feb. 3

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    Terry,

     

    We haven't completely planned the end of our trip yet but we are probably going to fly directly out of Auckland rather than stay over since we will be somewhat exhausted by that point.

     

    If we do it looks like our flight will leave around 7:30PM or so at night.

    Do you know if Celebrity offers an airline luggage valet to the airline aboard the ship. We have experienced this on a few other cruises where you can pay a few extra bucks and not worry.

     

    Since we will have the full day we need to store our luggage somewhere.

     

    Maybe I can help here. Just returned from my Sydney to Auckland Solstice cruise.

     

    The cruise terminal is right beside the ferry terminal. Both the City Sightseeing bus (hop on hop off 45 NZ$ all day ticket) and the Airport bus (every 10-15 minutes, takes you to the Airport in approx. 1 hr. for 16 NZ$) are around the corner. Turn left after leaving the terminal for both.

    If you turn right from the terminal you will find the i-site visitor centre a few steps around the corner. I saw lots of people with luggage walking in and I read on tripadvisor that they have luggage storage. You may want to check if they still do luggage storage as the tripadvisor posts are from 2013. I had a hotel and therefore no need to store luggage near the port.

    The i-site opens at 9 AM.

    Celebrity Solstice NZ review

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    I was on the same cruise. Yes, we had that bad start in Sydney but the rain is mother nature´s fault, not Celebrity´s. My baggage was wet, too, but it was already wet when I finally made it to the terminal. The crew did their best by offering to put clothes into the dryer.

     

    As for the sea-days:

    You know how many sea-days are scheduled when you book the cruise. Unfortunately, we had one more day at sea because we were unable to dock in Tauranga due to high winds but again: I think this is nature and not Celebrity´s fault.

     

    As for room/tables in public areas:

    I had an inside stateroom so I spent all day in the public areas and never had a problem to find space. I saw people playing card or board games all around the ship. You don´t have to stay in the card room to do this.

     

    My complete review is here, if anybody is interested:

    http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2167007

    review & trip report: Solstice Australia/New Zealand January/February 2015

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    Last pre-cruise stop: Sydney

     

    Here I went to see Harbour Bridge, Opera House and the Rocks

    blog: http://www.antjeinaustralienundneuseeland.blogspot.de/2015/01/sydney-rocks-und-rund-um-die-oper-und.html

    did a City Sightseeing tour

    blog: http://www.antjeinaustralienundneuseeland.blogspot.de/2015/01/sydney.html

    went on a full day tour to the Blue Mountains

    blog: http://www.antjeinaustralienundneuseeland.blogspot.de/2015/01/blue-mountains.html

    attended Australia Day

    blog: http://www.antjeinaustralienundneuseeland.blogspot.de/2015/01/australia-day-in-sydney.html

     

    This post comes with a big THANK YOU to the CC members who organized the Fireworks Dinner Cruise on Australia Day and to those CC members who shared their table with me that evening!

     

    Before embarkation I went on a guided tour at the opera house.

    blog: http://www.antjeinaustralienundneuseeland.blogspot.de/2015/02/abschied-von-sydney.html

    review & trip report: Solstice Australia/New Zealand January/February 2015

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted · Edited by AntjeG

    I stayed in Adelaide for a few nights. Did a City Sightseeing tour, went to the beach in Glenelg and on a full day tour to Kangaroo Island.

     

    blog: http://www.antjeinaustralienundneuseeland.blogspot.de/2015/01/adelaide-und-glenelg.html (City and Glenelg)

    and http://www.antjeinaustralienundneuseeland.blogspot.de/2015/01/kangaroo-island.html (Kangaroo Island)

    review & trip report: Solstice Australia/New Zealand January/February 2015

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    I interrupted my flight and stayed in Singapore for one night. Attended the light Show at the Marina Bay and did a City Sightseeing tour.

     

    blog: light Show at Marina Bay

    http://www.antjeinaustralienundneuseeland.blogspot.de/2015/01/lichtshow-der-marina-bay.html

     

    blog: City Sightseeing Singapore

    http://www.antjeinaustralienundneuseeland.blogspot.de/2015/01/ein-ereignisreicher-tag-in-singapur.html

    review & trip report: Solstice Australia/New Zealand January/February 2015

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    Getting started with the trip report soon. I did a blog while travelling which also has pics. Unfortunately for you the blog is in German. But it has a "translate" button so you may want to switch it to English. I know Google Translator´s English is even worse than mine but you might get an idea. For your convenience I will highlight some activities here on CC in "my" English and give you a link to that part of the blog.

    review & trip report: Solstice Australia/New Zealand January/February 2015

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted · Edited by AntjeG

    This was my first Celebrity cruise. Please excuse any mistakes in my English as I am not a native speaker.

     

    As I know that some cruisecritic members would like to have a plain review and others love trip reports with pictures I´ll try to give you both. First the ship review and then the trip Report (in a new post). Those who don´t like trip reports simply stop reading after the ship review.

     

    Embarkation:

    Sydney Overseas Passenger Terminal

    Great location for a cruise terminal. You are right in the middle of everything and there are stunning views from the Sunset Bar upon sail away.

    No staggered boarding but it was very quick. Due to heavy rain it was no fun but that is not Celebrity´s fault.

     

    Ship in general:

    I loved the interior design. Spent much time at the Sky Lounge and the Solarium. There are 2800 passengers but it didn´t feel crowded.

    Muster drill was a mess and gave me a feeling of not being really safe on board. This never happened to me on any other cruise. Top of desaster was the fact that I found a letter at my stateroom door after the drill stating that I had not attended the drill and would I please follow the safety instructions from now on. If even for a scheduled drill they don´t know who was there: how will they manage this in a real emergency? I met several other people in line at guest relations who had the same experience so this is no single incident.

     

    Stateroom:

    Inside on Deck 3 midship. I loved the size and design of the stateroom. Plenty of storage facilities. Both American and European power outlets.

    I missed a clothes line in the bathroom and Celebrity does not provide shower gel (only bar soap and shampoo).

    The steward, Muhajir, and his assistant did a great job. The room was always clean and tidy, they knew my name (which is difficult to pronounce for English speaking people) from the first day and they would pay attention to those small things that make a cruise special.

     

    Food and beverages:

    The food in the MDR is great and the service outstanding. The waiters, Anwar and his assistant Leovito, were the best I ever met on any ship. The Maitre, Rafael, would come to our table every evening to ask how we felt about the food and service.

    I had the late seating and found myself at a table with other solo cruisers from 4 countries. Our evenings were both fun and full of interesting, serious discussions. Loved those dinner times! We always were among the last to leave.

    I had room service breakfast one morning which was great, too. Delivered on time, hot & fresh.

    I didn´t go to the speciality restaurants but had lunch at Bistro on 5 once. It is really worth the $ 7 cover charge.

    I really enjoyed the alternative breakfast at the Aqua spa café. Breakfast buffet at the Ocean View Café is nice, too.

    Loved my pre-dinner Sushi at the Ocean View Café in the evening.

    For beverages, there are free coffee, tea, water, lemonade at the Ocean View Café 24/7 and water is included with dinner, too. I didn´t buy a beverage package and am glad about that. Wouldn´t have been worth it for me. I didn´t find the alcohol-free cocktails to my taste so I mostly stuck with the free lemonade. As I am not a big coffee drinker I didn´t spend much money on the specialty coffees at Café al Bacio, too. If you love your specialty coffee or a nice glass of wine a beverage package might be worth to consider.

     

    Entertainment:

    I loved all the live music performances. They do have a real live playing orchestra and several bands and duos who perform in different venues during the day and until late in the evening. Many guest artists with a wide variety of program. Most guest artists were from Australia which I liked, too. If you are cruising in that part of the world why not invite their artists on the ship?

    I also enjoyed the guest speaker program and went to the theatre to hear them every time they were there.

    JC, the cruise director, is quite a character. I really enjoyed the way he made his announcements.

    There was lots of comedy and trivia which I didn´t go to because of the language barrier.

    Hot Glass Show is a unique event on a cruise ship and was very interesting, too.

    I was really impressed when we missed a port (due to wind) how quickly the Celebrity Today was re-arranged and a new copy delivered to the stateroom.

     

    Different Venues:

    The shops really stressed me sometimes. I would even make my way to the other end of the ship on a different deck to avoid passing by the shops. The crew would stand in the door of the shops quite often and really hard try to talk you into buying something. Lots of „activities“ in the Celebrity Today consisted of special sales announcements for the shops.

    Spa prices are ridiculous even with special prices for port days etc. Had a massage which was good but overpriced.

    I loved the Solarium with the heated indoor pool. This is an adult only area.

    The casino is lost space for me but lots of other people were gambling a lot.

    Sky Lounge on Deck 14 forward with ist huge windows is a great venue to spend a stormy, rainy sea day.

    The Atrium with the glass elevators is impressive.

     

    Itinerary:

    Really worth the long flight even though we had bad weather.

    Sydney – at sea – Hobart/Tasmania – 3 days at sea (3rd day cruising the Sounds in New Zealand) – Dunedin – Akaroa – Wellington – at sea – Tauranga (spent at sea as we were not able to dock) – Bay of Islands – Auckland

    As you can see in the following trip report I spent some weeks pre-cruise in Australia.

     

    New Zealand Immigration:

    Celebrity did a great job organizing this. New Zealand immigration officers were brought to Hobart and went with us to Dunedin. Immigration process was done during the 3 days at sea. Everybody had a scheduled time. Some line up in spite of that, but not too bad.

     

    Tender:

    If you need to get an early tender you should be at the ticket desk for a tender ticket at least 1 hour prior to the scheduled time. In Akaroa, tender tickets were announced for 8 am. I was there at 6.45 am (and was not the first to be there!). Had to wait until 8 am but got the first tender. People who showed up at 8 am as scheduled got tender No. 15.

     

    Disembarkation:

    Fast and easy. My luggage tag number was called 20 minutes prior to the scheduled time so I found myself and my baggage outside the Auckland pier by 7 am.

    Auckland cruise terminal is centrally located only a few steps from the Airport shuttle bus stop and the city sightseeing bus stop. The tourist information is a few steps around the corner.

     

    This is the end of the review. I rated it 5 overall in the review section on CC. Trip report with pics will follow.

    iLounge Internet

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    I will be on the Solstice from Tuesday and already travelling. As things like that always happen when you really do not need them, my tablet computer broke down today. I am no longer able to recharge it. As it is the weekend and a public holiday on Monday there is no chance of a repair before boarding.

    Long story short, I can not use it to access internet on board via WIFI.

    If I use the ship's computers in the iLounge, will I be able to create a text offline and then log in to the internet to paste it into email or blog? or are the ship's computers only fitted with internet access and no text creator program for offline use?

    Will it otherwise be possible to just borrow an iPad from the iLounge? I really don't want to buy a new one.

    Thanks.

    Celebrity shore excursions, rules and policies?

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    My 1st Celebrity cruise is still upcoming but I have a little experience to share.

    If you cancel a booked excursion pre-cruise they refund really quickly to your credit Card. I had my money for the cancelled excursion back the next day.

     

    For non-US citizens the good thing about booking pre-cruise is that you pay in your own local currency. I saved quite a bit as I booked when the Euro had a much better exchange rate than now and I didn´t have to pay the fee my credit Card charges for using non-Euro currencies.

    I know the OP is from the US but this might still be interesting for other people who read this thread.

    Solstice Live: Australia/NZ/Hawaii, Many Pix’s, Jan. 20-Feb. 3

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    We are now at only 27 days until we fly out to Barbados to start our Jan. 25-Feb. 20, 2015, Amazon River-Caribbean combo back-to-back sailing over 26 days on the Silversea Silver Cloud.

     

    Terry, enjoy your cruise. I am already looking forward to your review/trip report. For me it´s less than 2 weeks until I start my pre-cruise sightseeing in Australia. Thanks again for the inspiration and the wonderful photos in this blog.

    Former Galaxy Ship

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    I had the pleasure to cruise on both Mein Schiff 1 and Mein Schiff 2 and I loved both. Can´t help with what is on the balconies as I had inside cabins. And yes, TUI Cruises is a Joint venture between Royal Caribbean and TUI AG. I am looking forward to my first cruise on one of their new builts - Mein Schiff 4.

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