sewingbee

We are on that cruise too! I emailed them a few weeks back and they did reply with the provisional times but, as we are now not going to Lisbon, they've emailed the amended itinerary and times anyway! Busy spending the evening looking what to do in La Coruna instead

8 hours ago, mattR said:

Which company takes reservations?

http://www.catalinaislandgolfcart.com/

I've just bought a beautiful flowy, long, black/cream duster coat on Vinted, it'll be great with pants and a top, Boundary mill has a good selection, I've had some nice evening wear from there.

this time we board our cruise on the day of King Charles 111 coronation, so our group are all wearing shirts tops etc with a coronation theme, I'm a seamstress so I'm busy making shirts with guardsmen on or union jacks. Hopefully it'll make up for missing the street parties back in the UK!

On 2/10/2023 at 10:34 PM, blackshirt said:

You do realize you pay port fees and if a port is skipped or in your case shortened, you should get a corresponding refund. Shortening the port stay won’t save Celebrity anything. Whatever fees they are avoiding will be returned to the passengers.

I've spoken to celebrity about this and so has my Travel agent and have been told, no port fees to be returned as they don't pay extra to be there overnight, it's just a set fee to dock, so no refund to come! This was the port we were most looking forward to so gutted it's been shortened!

we did the same on a cruise a few years ago, it was fine except for the weird way they work the charges, so what happens is, they 'test' the card with a charge when you spend on board,,so that shows on your room telly, then they refund it, then after you've been home a week they charge the final total! it was very difficult to keep track as we went along but it all worked correct in the end. I did end up ringing celebrity to clarify what was going on so they explained the process. It's fine, just don't be surprised when it seems a lot of to and fro!

we had this issue a few years back so hired a car, so that our luggage was storable in the boot, drove to Miami beach and parked up in a public car park. Spent a few hours on the Miami seafront looking at the gorgeous building, had lunch then drove to the airport. we could pick up and drop of the car at diff locations so it was pretty easy. Worked out a similar cost to taxis etc and we got to see some of Miami.

this site tells you which pier you dock at https://www.cruisemapper.com/ports/san-francisco-port-2

there's a PDF with the full schedule on, we used it to find which pier our ship uses in May

One of the companies does allow advance reservations , so that's what we are planning to do, it's the one that's a little further to walk, but worth it to not be stressed about doing the main thing we want to do on the island

In Dublin we bought Guinness ornaments at the brewery but did see them in the main town, Edinburgh has a christmas shop on cowgate which is lovely. We buy ornaments too and can usually find them in most places all year round

Just now, bookitdanno said:

Please... here in the colonies the white vaccination cards are proof of vaccination. So if you are from the states, don't spend a lot of time looking for "little blue things". 

different in the UK don't think it will ever be standardised!😅

hi, the vaccine cards you were given for your jabs (little blue things) are not proof of anything. They are easy to write on, showing a second jab if you've only had 1, or borrowed from a friend etc, I worked at a vaccine clinic and folks often ended up with 2 cards as they forgot to bring their original one along, so they could easily pass them on! you need the official covid pass from the NHS app, or a paper version of your record from 119. Cards seem easy to flash as you arrive in a port but eventually they will cotton on to the easy fraud of them and start to be more strict

1 hour ago, Auntiemomo said:

Do you have a particular stateroom in mind?  

no, at this stage we are looking for 2 together on 7/8/9 solstice. It will depend on what's available when we go to the agent tomorrow, I just wanted a way to know quickly without having to open the spreadsheet and search each room!

Hi, does anyone know how to work out the bed position from the deck plans? We prefer the bed by the bathroom but can't work it out. The sticky with the cabin information on doesn't have every cabin (yet!) so it's hard to work out for the available cabins which to go for.

I asked for a kettle on my last 2 cruises, fort lauderdale and venice. No problem at all and we just fetched t bags etc from ocean view as we needed them.

Taormina is lovely and you can easily fill your time just wandering the shops and the ampitheatre is magnificent. The beaches are great and you can get a cable car up into town easily. we spent a week there and really loved the place.

Personally I would stay in Venice itself, hang the extra expense! you'd then be in Venice in the evening and (if you can get up early) at dawn, when Venice is at it's best. You feel as if you have the city to yourself after the ships and tours have left and in the morning, enjoying St Mark's square with just the pigeons, is an unforgettable experience. This will be my 3rd time in Venice and there is something magical about the place when it's quiet and you can hear your footsteps. enjoy!

This year will be our 3rd trip to Venice, it's a wonderful place and the best thing to do is just wander! It's not so big that you'll be lost for long and you'll get back to ship in plenty of time. Don't bother with an expensive gondola ride just use the vaparetto down the grand canal and you'll see all the major sights easily. get off at st Marks then wander your way back through the streets and bridges. Sit in a waterside cafe and marvel at how everything happens on the water! we saw all the energency services, rubbish collection and a funeral, fascinating, and unlike anywhere else on earth. Arriving in Venice is like stepping into a painting so stay outside and enjoy every bit of it!

You can pay a fixed amount to upgrade or just pay the difference,  that's what's changed. A few years ago you couldn't just pay the difference, you paid for the whole drink cost. 

we were on Reflection last year, asked for a kettle, no problem. Makes such a difference!

When we sailed from fort Lauderdale, we asked our cabin steward fro a kettle, no problem. We could then make 'proper' tea with boiling water anytime we liked! kept a small carton of milk in the fridge.

On 2/23/2019 at 12:37 AM, Jim_Iain said:

I know you can in a suite by just writing it on the order form.   You could always try.

Yes you can get a pot of hot water delivered.   

We usually ask our room steward for a kettle so at least the water is boiling for the tea! nothing worse than a 'warm' pot of water 

We just paid the few dollars extra for a dearer drink every so often. think we spent a total of $15 for a 2 week cruise. so not always worth paying the upgrade. Try the classic for a few days and then decide, there's plenty of choice and lots of great wines at either no, or a nominal extra charge

4 hours ago, babs135 said:

Thanks John, sound advice as usual.  

One very slightly off topic question.  Would we need an ESTA?  I realise it is not actually America itself, but......

Depends on your departure point we went from fort Lauderdale so we did need one

I agree, not worth paying the upgrade price. we easily found a choice of cocktails or wines we liked with the odd beer during the day. Only paid the top up cost a couple of times for a martini. Even our sommelier would give us a 'better' wine once they got to know us and we were never charged the extra.