Dr. Pam

OK.... so I will add my $.02  Cdn.....Oops $0.05 🤪 my bad!

I also research and book my cruises on my own through the cruiseline and then shop around with the US big cruise agencies.  THe OBC that they offer is amazing!  However, I do not need hand holding onboard.  

Pam

Hi 🙂

If you are Aeroplan member (Star Alliance) then EVA Air might be a good choice coming from Eastern Canada.  We are flying from YYC-YVR-HKG for a cruise on Celebrity Solstice.  We are returning from SIN-TPE-YVR-YYC.  Possibly the advantage is that all of the flights are with *Alliance.  Singagpore Airlines, EVA airlines and Air Canada.  I also think the idea of not having to clear customs 2x (once in US and then in Canada) is appealing......well it was to me!  

I have reserved transfers for this weekend prior to starting on our cruise.  A168 Limousine Hong Kong <a168hklimo@gmail.com>  i have reserved  a good size van to carry 3 adults and 5 large suitcases.

I believe TayTay is performing all week starting Saturday, March 2?  Busy gal 🙂

On 12/30/2023 at 9:08 AM, sambamama said:

I'm sure you will have a great time. He is arranging a private snorkel trip for 13 of us to the Marine Park in late January. 

On 12/5/2023 at 2:31 PM, sambamama said:

Mr. Samui arranges wonderful private tours for 2 people or more.  I just spent about two weeks on the island.  For the price of a taxi to Grandmother and Grandfather rocks, you can probably arrange a tour for not too much more and see lots more.  You can go around the island, and see stuff, and have a lovely lunch.  See waterfalls, beaches, temples, go to local markets, ride an elephant if you want, get a super cheap massage-those are everywhere.  I booked many taxi rides with Mr. Samui and was very happy.  He can fit up to 9 in a van, I think.  I find tour by locals usually are pretty high priced. 

You might want to update your thoughts on this thread after reading your new post........

Thank you for posting this info. I am sure other cruisers will take note.

Pam

Hi there!  

Last minute questions for transportation off of the Celebrity Solstice to the JW Marriott in Singapore.

We are 3 adults with possibly 5 large suitcases that would like to be off the ship by 8 AM.  What is the general time spent going through immigration/passport control if we have completed the arrival info for Singapore.  Any recommendations for private transportation as I am not sure if GRAB has a large enough vehicle. (Also, this is the weekend/week of the Taylor Swift concerts in Singapore.....probs more busy.)

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,

Pam

We are doing the above with private guides but using the ship's transportation to CentralWorld? where I believe we can take a quick taxi to the ST. REGIS.  I was a bit nervous about traffic with a private driver.  It is our first time to Thailand and Vietnam.

Pam 

On 2/1/2024 at 12:42 AM, GenerationX said:

Hi Charla 🙂

Pam from Canada!  I have loved and laughed with your postings on CC.  I just wanted to commend you on your excellant wine choice (Yummo) and will follow your voyage. We did the ABC on the Navigator several years ago, and the private snorkeling trip on Bonaire was simply amazing.  Enjoy!
 

13 minutes ago, Dr. Pam said:

Hi Georgia,

 

Also to note according to your copied snap,  the Reflection Suite does not receive the real "bubbles" upon embarkation, does not receive daily bottled water, sodas and beer. We loved the Reflection when we cruised in a RS for the Mardi Gras in Feb 2020.  We had debated between the Reflection and Royal Suite, as the amenities were the same.  We just decided on the Royal Suite for the extra space.  Certainly, cruising with Celebrity is changing as noted in their fine print.  We have an upcoming sailing on the Solstice in a Royal Suite and this will give us a first hand indication on the direction/cutbacks on this line.  After this, we will go forward with our "wallets" to determine future cruises.

 

I hope things work out for the best.  According to these boards, I am sensing a "bait and switch" category.

 

Happy and Safe travels🙂

 

Pam

OOPs, My bad!🙃I meant the Signature Suite, not the Reflection Suite.  Sorry.

Hi Georgia,

Also to note according to your copied snap,  the Reflection Suite does not receive the real "bubbles" upon embarkation, does not receive daily bottled water, sodas and beer. We loved the Reflection when we cruised in a RS for the Mardi Gras in Feb 2020.  We had debated between the Reflection and Royal Suite, as the amenities were the same.  We just decided on the Royal Suite for the extra space.  Certainly, cruising with Celebrity is changing as noted in their fine print.  We have an upcoming sailing on the Solstice in a Royal Suite and this will give us a first hand indication on the direction/cutbacks on this line.  After this, we will go forward with our "wallets" to determine future cruises.

I hope things work out for the best.  According to these boards, I am sensing a "bait and switch" category.

Happy and Safe travels🙂

Pam

On 1/29/2024 at 10:31 AM, Hlitner said:

LOL, that is because Canadians just love taxes :).   That being said, we enjoy visiting BC.  In fact, we are planning a driving trip from Vancouver to Calgary for next year.  That gives me enough time to save my pennies (we still have them in the USA) to pay for gas :).

 

Hank

LOL🤪I do not think that us Canucks love our taxes.  As you have noted, we do not have pennies in our currency anymore it is incorporated in our taxes.  Always!🤣

As an aside, on your drive from Vancouver to Calgary, you will probably have to schedule your visit to Lake Louise as they are limiting the parking spots and tourist numbers.  If you are looking to stay at the Chateau Lake Louise(stunning Fairmont style castle) you will have access to the hikes around the lake and the teahouse.  If you are planning on a smaller more intimate stay in Lake Louise, I would most certainly recommend THE POST HOTEL (Boutique, European feel.))  Their dining room cannot be beat.  And as always, the grande dame of mountain castle hotels, the Fairmont Banff Springs.  You will be appreciative of the US $ having an advantage for vacations in Canada.  (I know, because we have another home in MT, and we cringe at the exchange rate!🤑

Thank you to both of you for the info.  I already have reserved 2 days in Vietnam with www.tourwithxuan.com. His company's reviews were great..... we shall see 🙂

We are getting excited!

Pam

uMMMMH....So why does she not apply for a passport ASAP?  PASSPORT>>WILL TRAVEL

18 hours ago, mahdnc said:

One other tip--if your room reservations are award stays--constantly check Marriott's website for price reductions (favorable changes in the number of points needed).  Now that Marriott has changed to a dynamic pricing system, you should do a mock booking through your smartphone  Marriott app periodically to see if the price has dropped.  When I booked the JW Marriott Singapore for 5 nights, I originally paid 207,000 Bonvoy points.  My records show that through pricing fluctuation, I modified our reservation 13 times including on the evening we were waiting to board our flight to Singapore.  In the end, I was able to get our 5 night stay down to 177,000 points.

I DID do this...thanks to one of your earlier posts and saved a considerable amount of points! YAY!😁Thank you!  CC is a great forum to learn from others who have gone before us.

Hi MiamiNice and mahdnc😀

Many thanks to the both of you for such invaluable information! Although we have travelled through parts of Asia (10+yrs ago land based), we are very excited to explore more countries by ship.  I think that a cruise does provide an overview and insight, if we wish to do a future extensive land based vacation. 

We are very excited to board the Solstice after 2 nights in Hong Kong trying to recover from jet lag.  We hope that we have chosen the correct flights to minimize sleep deprivation (I do not do well with time changes 🙃.) We are on Air Canada from YYC- YVR early Friday evening our time and then YVR to HKG leaving at midnight and arriving in Hong Kong, a day and a half later (13+ hour flight although in lay down flat seats) We arrive Sunday morning at 5:30 am Hong Kong time.....so hopefully we will achieve some ZZZZZZ's on our way over. Thank you to mahdnc for JW Marriott recommendation.  We are Platinum Elite with a few points that we are using for our stays in Hong Kong (JW Marriott), Bangkok (St. Regis) and Singapore (JW Marriott) for a total of 10 nights...built up over PANDEMIC and happy to use! Points are now depleted thanks to reserving  an extra room for our son (graduating from MED....proud parents😁) for all of our stays.  We are thrilled to enjoy this adventure with DS before he enters the residency grind!

I am very appreciative to you both for directing us to some amazing private tour guides, some of which we have engaged for our time.  Because of your reviews, we are downloading WHATSAPP, GRAB, and making sure that we have local currency (and USD of course) on hand for the different countries. We are currently looking at e-Sim cards for all of us....we have elderly parents that we need to stay in touch with.  Our Canadian cellular carriers charge "highway robbery fees" for travel abroad. We want to keep our same phone numbers and have voice and cellular. THoughts?

Thank you once again.  I will not be doing a live of live-ish review, but I will certainly post my thoughts and reviews of our adventure.....trying to play it forward.

Happy and Safe Travels,

Pam

Ya...Zitsky, it is just you. Your writing style for  your post was interrogative and abrasive.. Six abrupt questions, all in a row!  Just learn to be kind and phrase your questions in a pleasant manner.   Please calm down.  I am moving on....

Thank you NMTraveller and Mayleeman for your comments and how you handled your situations onboard.  

Happy and Safe travels,

Pam

38 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

A long time is after I have finished breakfast.  I would like to enjoy a Mimosa during/before.  The same for water and coffee.  

 

We did ask for coffee after a while when it was not delivered.  But I am not into continuously asking for this and that.  

 

The solution was to afterwards go to Cafe Al Bacio where they had better staffing.  They did a good job.  No complaints there.

 

I could have complained to the Maitre D,  but that would not solve a staffing issue.  There was one guy on the team that was working his butt off.  No need to make him work harder.

 

It is not my job to fix things that are broken on the ship.

Zitsky said:

What do you consider a long time?  What is an acceptable wait time versus unacceptable?  What do you do or say when the item does not arrive quickly enough?

So a mimosa took too long? How long is forever?  How did you communicate your dissatisfaction to the staff and/or management?

I find a simple raised hand or an “excuse me” works pretty well on multiple cruises.  There are multiple people in the dining room ready to assist you.

I traveled with someone who was pretty demanding so maybe I am overly sensitive to complaints of poor service.

Zitsky, I am sorry if you felt that my interpretation of these bolded questions sounded like an interrogation......because it does.  I hope that you have learned much from NMTraveller's exchange if that is what you wanted......

7 minutes ago, zitsky said:

What do you consider a long time?  What is an acceptable wait time versus unacceptable?  What do you do or say when the item does not arrive quickly enough?

 

So a mimosa took too long? How long is forever?  How did you communicate your dissatisfaction to the staff and/or management?

 

I find a simple raised hand or an “excuse me” works pretty well on multiple cruises.  There are multiple people in the dining room ready to assist you.

 

I traveled with someone who was pretty demanding so maybe I am overly sensitive to complaints of poor service.

Zitsky....perhaps you are oversensitive. NMTraveller has been on CC for a long time and has seemed to offer reasonable and good advice. Perhaps they did raise a hand and try to obtain the attention of a waiter.  I find your reply post very interrogating and unkind to a member who has contributed a lot to this forum.🤔 

1 hour ago, 81Zoomie said:

@ito717, could you tell us what they offered you instead of the Decoy?

This is not good.😖Is Celebrity trying to push their Retreat guests away for a couple of dollars? Whoah.🤑

We are on the Solstice in a RS for an Asian cruise.  I will report back my findings and thoughts.  DH and I were looking forward to more cruises in the future.... and we will.  However, I will now be checking out other lines that value their clients.  Very disappointed to read this. 

LOL !  🤪🤣 Hard not to reply to these comments.  LOL again! As a forward, we have done the big ships when our kids were young.  It was a good fit at the time.  We are now looking forward to a more adult experience especially after our cruise on the Reflection right before the Pandemic. We loved it!  However, after being on the Celebrity boards and reading about the decline in service, we will definitely check out some other luxury lines after our Asia Solstice cruise in a RS.

Now let us chat about the size and motion.........😁

Well it isn’t the size of the boat.

See this guy? It’s a flower class corvette. Yeah pretty freaking tiny as far as ocean going vessels are concerned.

These boats could only do 13.5 knots, and were pretty sluggish to get up to speed.

But damn were they sea-worthy. Even covered in ice, they were renowned for their sea-keeping and generally well-balanced capabilities. As long as a hatch wasn’t left open, you’re pretty guaranteed to be there the morning after a bad storm.

Then there is this poor thing. It could make 25 knots, and it could carry absolutely anything, but some heavy wave action at designed load did her in.

So maybe the size of the ship in relation to the motion of the ocean is important. The design and use of the ship is what matters

Waiting.....patiently!😁

Glad you made it home safely.

Pam

10 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

As an aside, I had a dental appointment today...for a standard cleaning.  Not one person asked me any medical questions.  The hygienist who did the cleaning asked me if any of my teeth were bothering me...that's it. I'm sure I filled out forms upon my first visit ever to the practice, but that was 12 years ago.  Last year I updated my insurance information...still no medical questions asked.  

Sorry, Georgia. I think this is very negligent by the dental office.  Dental hygiene appointments do carry a risk for some patients and it is important for health histories to be updated regularly.  But, I am retired...🙃 what do I know?

🙂Pam

That is a great idea!  Thank you.😃

I will also add my thanks for a fantastic review that offered so much insight and tips for this Asian Cruise. I appreciate the time and effort that you put in and I have lots of "take-aways", that I will use for our upcoming Solstice cruise. Safe travels home.

:)Pam