Freewill

Any LGBT people joining us on this amazing Baltic cruise?

Roger & Les

Under three weeks now...

I know. It will be coming up fast especially with the Thanksgiving holiday here in the states. Do you have all of your excursions planned? We're doing private group tours for Vietnam and Thailand.

We disembarked Millennium last week and the Elite+ discount was 35% off the unlimited internet package.

BEAV,

That's good to know. We have Elite status and will be doing a 12 day on Millennium in December. Can you get the Elite discount pre-booking the wifi or should you wait until on-board?

Roger

Our information came from the ship's staff who were on last year's Asia sailings and handled processing of Vietnam visa applications for guests on board. We were told photos were required to be submitted with the visa applications and we could bring our own or have the ship photo department provide them for a fee. Since we can get passport photos made locally (4 for $5), we plan to bring our own.

 

You can take a look at these two websites for additional information:

 

http://www.vietnamvisa-easy.com/vietnam-visa-requirements/vietnam-visa-requirements-for-cruise-passengers

 

http://www.celebritycruises.com.au/before-you-sail/travel-documentation/passport-visa/

Thanks for the additional information. This is a bit more involved than I was reading from a more indirect source. Sounds like I should give Celebrity a call. We can get photos locally as well and probably cheaper than on ship. :)

Roger

We were living in a small town called Inuvik. We are now in Edmonton but we both still work for the companies that are based up there and fly in and out occasionally. A very interesting place, we'll tell you about it over drinks.

 

As for the itinerary we have only been to Thailand so looking forward to the other destinations, but Thailand is definitely fun too.

Wow, Inuvik is wayyyy up there! We'll look forward to hearing more about it. We have cruised the inside passage and my company has an office in Vancouver that I visit. That's as close as we have been to those places. :)

I'm sure this cruise will be a nice break from cold weather. We're in Allentown, Pennsylvania, where we also work.

We just booked this for our Christmas vacation. We were originally planning on doing a South American cruise but couldn't beat this deal. Looking forward to it!

 

Alex & Mark

Alex, Mark,

Where do you guys live in the territories? Have you visited any of the countries on this itinerary before? All is new to me except Hong Kong, which I was in once for business.

In the past Celebrity has been able to submit the Vietnam visa requests for passengers as a group while onboard the ship. However, this accommodation is subject to future change. You will need two passport size photos for Vietnam. You can provide your own passport photos or obtain them from the ship photo department for a fee.

 

Contact Celebrity or your travel agent for visa requirements specific to your booking.

I thought if we're just visiting for the day in Vietnam ports we only needed a stamp, not photos. In my reading the photos were needed if you were going to be traveling overnight/overland in Vietnam.

We just booked this for our Christmas vacation. We were originally planning on doing a South American cruise but couldn't beat this deal. Looking forward to it!

 

Alex & Mark

Welcome, Alex & Mark,

Glad to see some LGBT couples coming on board. The price we found for this one was pretty good to us as well.

Roger

Hubby and I are also booked on this amazing cruise as a B2B with 27 Nov sailing and are looking forward to enjoying all the ports.

Hi Gary & Chi and welcome to the roll call. Sorry for the delay in replying. I'm on a business trip in Europe right now. B2B sounds great, but this is all the time we could take. Have you been to any of the ports before?

Roger

Hi All!

We just booked this amazing 12 day cruise, which includes Bangkok and two ports in Vietnam for an amazing rate. Anyone coming with us?

Roger & Les

Just booked this 7 day to France and Spain ports. Only the 3rd sailing on the new Ovation OTS. Anyone joining us?

Roger

Greetings from Washington, DC! We are looking forward to joining you on this cruise. Hard to believe it's less than a month away. We've been on two cruises before - one on Celebrity and one on Royal Caribbean. Very excited to visit Australia and New Zealand!

Bob & Kevin

Welcome, Bob and Kevin! As you saw, the main board has been pretty active. Sockie is trying to organize some tables for second dinner seating if you're doing traditional dining as we are.

This is our first trip to AU and NZ so we're pretty excited. Have you worked on any shore excursions yet? Les and I are getting married on November 8, so we've been pretty busy with that and I'm behind on planning for this cruise.

Roger & Les

Our sailing date is coming up fast. Has anyone else booked this cruise? Come join us!

Roger & Les

Hi ! We are not on your cruise, but my partner Stan & I sailed the Solstice from San Diego to Sydney this past sept. and sailed Aus. & NZ with Roytal .

don't worry about the size of the ship, this was our 2nd sail with her, LOVE the Solstice, never feels big, tons of light, great ship.

We are both big guys, 6'4, 240 lbs. I booked Virgin Austrila economy plus, great seat & not bad price, NS, Sydney to LAX.

Any questions about the ship / ports, give a yell.

! more thing, if the ship overs an overnight off the ship at Milford Sound, NZ, jump on it, was the hightlight of our entire cruise.

Thanks for the experience on Solstice and the region! We've been on big ships before, so we're not worried on that. We got our flights through the cruise line's Choice Air Program and we're on Air New Zealand in std coach. But, our seat locations are pretty good for the price.

I'll look into the Milford Sound option.

I haven't started to look at excursions yet. I'm still working on my August Alaska cruisie. What is the 5 excursion package?

We have an inside cabin on this one since it is expensive just go get over there. Guess we'll be stuck in the main dining room. :rolleyes:

I always check closer to sailing to see if I can swing any upgrades, but I doubt we'll get that big a step. Maybe we can meet up in the Captain's Club for breakfast or cocktails.

Wow, Jean! You have sampled lots of cruise lines and places. I want to visit Egypt, but the political uprising has delayed that for now. We focused on Royal until we got D+ status, so now I am taking advantage of it on Celebrity. Looking forward to trying the Solstice class.

Two of you sailing or is it a larger group?

Hi Jean,

Glad to hear you will be joining us. We're from Allentown, PA and have mostly cruised Royal Caribbean. This will be our second time on Celebrity.

It looks like you're new to the boards. Have you cruised before?

Roger

We just booked this 12 day for our first cruise down under! Anyone else joining us? :D

No pictures to share :(, but we are just back from the 3 night Miami-Colon repo and can testify that Vision is in great shape, wonderful to sail on -- and that itinerary you are looking at is superb. What could be wrong with that?

 

David

Glad to hear she made it to Colon in great shape. We board one week from today and are looking forward to all new ports for this sailing.

Roger

RCL has dropped the prices significantly on this sailing. Still time to join us. :)

We'll be sailing in just one month. Anyone else joining us? :)

Just booked this cruise, starting in Colon Panama and visiting Cartagena, Columbia; Bonaire; Aruba; and Curacao. It is just after Vision's major drydock. Come join us!

Roger & Les

Just ended day 4 in St. Thomas aboard Allure.

 

To our surprise, we found a new offering this week on Allure. it is unlimited Internet for the week for $149. Use it as much as you want from one device on line at a time.

 

I haven't verified the speed yet but so far it is quite fast.

I heard about this on our roll call thread. This is a great value for us and we're looking forward to trying it out when we embark this Sunday. :D

Ok friends, lets see Jamaica. I need to mention some background here so you know why we decided not to do any excursions there. I am not sure if you are aware of this, but Jamaica is on of the most homophobic countries in the western hemisphere. There is a large amount of violence against homosexuals, that ranges from verbal to even homicide.

gambee,

My companion and I are taking this cruise this coming Sunday, 2 December. This is why we won't be going outside of the dock gates. We may not even get off the ship. Plus, I have been to Dunn's River with my Mom on an excursion and I really don't like the aggressive sales tactics.

I am really loving your review and the great photos. Looking forward to finishing it before we sail. Thanks!

Roger & Les