debfed65

Greetings from Canada 🇨🇦 We are very excited to fly into Sydney in April and staying a few days prior to boarding the Edge Transpacific cruise. In Canada, it is very difficult to find reef safe suntan lotion. I assume it is easier to find in Australia - and also a lotion with a SPF of 4, 6 or 8 ? If anyone can provide any help, it would be appreciated. We are looking forward to exploring your part of the world and have been on many cruises with some folks from down under and have enjoyed their company very much - you are a very friendly, easy going bunch! Thanks

You can also walk to the old town from the port. It takes about 40 minutes but it is a nice walk. Or just take the local bus. The bus stop is right outside the gates at the port just right turn right about 100 feet from the exit - buy your round trip ticket at the newspaper stand located right there (very inexpensive) and ride with the locals & other passengers - drops you off outside the entrance to old town Dubrovnik. Enjoy!

Thank you both very much for this information. I will definitely look into both of these options! We are very excited to go and explore this part of the world - it looks absolutely stunning 🌴🐠☀️

We have never had any issues taking the train from Termini station in Rome to Civitavecchia many times. We take the Leonardo Express from the airport to Termini, overnight in a hotel close to the train station, take the first train in the morning from Rome to Civitavecchia. By doing it this way, you are ahead of the rush of people coming in from the airport trying to do the same. We always have 2 large suitcases with carry on and never have a problem finding a place for our luggage beside us. Tickets are easy to purchase at the machine. You can select the machine to English instead of Italian. It is a minimal cost to do it this way. A little tip, make sure your luggage is in front of you while at the machine so no-one walks away with it and keep your belonging close to you. There is a shuttle bus right at Civitavecchia train station that will take you through the port gates and right to the ship for 6 euro per person. But I must admit, going from Civitavecchia to Termini can be a bit of a challenge merely because of the volume of people getting off ships and trying to do the same. We have done it and have found the trick is to get off super early to get the first train. The shuttle bus will be there to take you directly from the ship to the train station for the 6 euro per person. This only works if you have an afternoon flight or later because you will still have to transfer from Termini to the Leonardo Express to get to the airport. If your flight is early, you would be better booking a ship transfer or other. It all depends how adventurous you are. We are neither young nor old lol - in our mid 50's and have never had a problem doing this.

Hello everyone, We are actually booked for this exact itinerary for January 2025, on a b2b with Can anyone offer any suggestions on a place to stay in Bali pre-cruise for one-two weeks? NMTraveller & chemmo - you both commented that you have stayed in Bali. Would you share where you stayed &/or any other travel suggestions you may have? Any information would be greatly appreciated! Thank you Debbie & Ron

Thank you again for this information! CoCo Beach looks amazing, I just spent some time on trip advisor and you tube looking at everything as well as their website. I see where you pre-book the water taxi online on their website. I think we will be tendering into Papetoai in Opunohu Bay. Was that the same for you? Can you walk to where the water taxi picks you up, or do we need to take a taxi to get to the meeting point? Thank you again, Debbie & Ron

Thank you so much for sending this reply! That is exactly the information I was looking for. What a wonderful story about the whales...a lifetime memory for sure! I can only hope we will see something as magical as that! In Moorea, we are thinking of renting bicycles &/or scooter to explore the island on our own...or just take a taxi to a beach and relax. We have a busy day Scuba Diving in Papeete and are want to go to the market before getting back on board, so these lazy days on a beach sound like a little piece of heaven to me 🏝️ Thank you again, and any other tidbits you would like to share would be welcomed

Good Morning We are very excited going to some of the islands in French Polynesia doing the TP Sydney to Hawaii on Edge this coming April. They also have a great 14 day itinerary from Sydney round trip this coming January and again in March 2026. Looks like they only do that itinerary once a season and it offers different ports than the TP. I am hoping someone following this thread can help me out with a question. We are stopping in Raiatea, Papeete & Moorea. I am trying to find information on doing a water taxi in Raiatea (Uturoa) to Motu Ofetaro just to have a relaxing beach day. Has anyone done this? Did you pre-book with Te Mara Nui? Does anyone know if you can just get a local water taxi at the pier once we get off the tender, or does it need to be pre-booked? I did post this on the South Pacific Islands port of call forum but no-one has replied so I am hoping someone here might have some insight. Thanks! Debbie & Ron

Hello everyone. We are doing a transpacific crossing this April with ports of calls at Raiatea, Papeete & Moorea. I am trying to find pricing & information to do a simple water taxi (?) ride from Uturoa to Motu Ofetaro, to go and relax on a beach. Has anyone done this? Did you prebook with Te Mara Nui? Does anyone know if we can just book a transfer once we get off the tender at the port? This is our first time (but not the last) time in the South Pacific so any information or advice would be greatly appreciated. 🏝️ Debbie & Ron

If you have unused OBC you can gift it to a crew member. It will go directly to them personally on their paycheque (it will show as extra gratuities) and it won't go into the pool to be shared with anyone else. Of course, this is over and above the auto gratuities that you have pre-paid (if you have prepaid them). Simply go to Guest Relations and they will give you a form to fill out. It is important to go to the crew member(s) and get the exact spelling of their name as it appears on their paycheque. This part is important. Go back to Guest Relations and they will look them up on their computer, show you a picture of the employee to make sure it is the right person and will put the employee's ID number on the form. The Guest Relations staff member will also sign the form. You can select a dollar amount from your OBC - however much you want to give away. You can do this for multiple crew members on the same form if you want to.

Hello Lastdance, This is totally off topic from the original post, but I am curious what changes Celebrity did to compensate for the cancellation of Lahaina because of the devastation? We are booked on the TP from Sydney to Hawaii on the Edge this April, and nothing has been offered to compensate for the dropped port. We simply have another day at sea...there has been an entire thread regarding this on CC. Can you please let us know what they offered to you because of the itinerary change? Thanking you in advance.

We will be on board the Ascent in a couple of weeks, and the Edge in April. Has anyone on board noticed what dark rums they are offering on both standard and premium drink package...and more specifically is there any Kraken Rum on the ship? Thanks! Ron

Thank you for posting so much positivity! We are booked on two separate B2B on the Millie next year for the Best of Japan & Northeast Asia and also doing the Spice Route with Bali, Malaysia & Thailand. Although we are not in a Suite, I would love to see some pics of the ship and hear about the ports of call on the Spice Route! But best of all, keep the positive vibe coming! It's snowy and cold in Canada, so enjoy the weather! Cheers, Ron & Debbie

We are on board January 7th so following your live report closely! We have been on the Beyond a few times, and our favourite bartender was transferred over to the Ascent. His name is Mauriti and he worked at the Sunset Bar…he’s the best! Hoping he is on board so if you are at the Sunset Bar, maybe look for him 😊 and let me know. Are the solo guitarist still playing at the sunset bar? Thanks for posting your thoughts on everything. These are always fun to follow along!

Thank you everyone for replying and giving all this wonderful information ….it is appreciated!

Hello! We are looking at booking a Sunset Verandah on the Edge - does anyone have any input/experience they can offer? I don't know which deck is best to book. What is the overhang like from the deck above? Is it better to be on a lower deck or higher or middle? Any information would be greatly appreciated! Cheers Ron & Debbie

Hello everyone! We booked Nieuw Statendam Sept 2025 for the itinerary going to Alexandria, Egypt & Istanbul overnight amongst other ports of interest. We always cruise Celebrity (love the silent disco 💃its so much fun) but this itinerary was too good to pass up. Question? What is the entertainment like on sea days? Are there activities during the day? Also, I keep reading about the music venues but does the theatre have nightly shows with live productions? Just curious as we have never cruised HAL before.

MOLAcruiser and CDNPolar- thank you both very much for this information! I appreciate that you have explained the process in such detail 👍🙂

Hello! We are booked on a TransPacific from Sydney - New Zealand - French Polynesia - Hawaii this coming April on Celebrity Edge. Do we need to get Australian & New Zealand Visas ? We are flying YYZ - SYD two days before the cruise departure and have 2 port of call stops in New Zealand.

I am from Canada and would like to know if anyone in Canada gets extra OBC from their travel agent? And just like StopTheWorld said....let me know who you use!!! 😉

Hi KKB and greetings from Canada! We are looking at booking this same cruise and take advantage of the Black Friday savings. Do you mind if I ask what the new price was you paid for the drink package and wifi when you rebooked them at the cheaper price? Because I haven't booked yet, I cannot get the price and Celebrity general reservations is not very helpful. I realize I will have to convert the amounts to CDN funds - I am just trying to figure out if it is worth it to just book the all in price or book cruise only and take advantage of the Black Friday sale on the drink package and internet. Thanking you in advance for any information you can provide! Debbie

Thank you for doing this live report! We are on the Edge in April 2024 from Sydney-Hawaii with the same ports of call. Have a question...Why do you have to hand in your passports for the arrival in French Polynesia? And I noticed a few post later, you said you still haven't gotten them back? It is our first time in this part of the world (and we are very excited), but I am curious about this passport hand in? Thanks...

Just a friendly FYI….a travel agent can take over your file from Celebrity. They can even move you into a group if they have one on the sailing you are on and give you any additional perks that come with it. That has been my experience in the past so hopefully it is still true. If you do it, please be mindful that you ask the TA that your current perks &/or OBC will be transferred to them as well with your reservation 😊

I have booked with Celebrity directly in the past. My frustration is that once they secure your booking, they are not very helpful. We found a wonderful TA locally and she has group space on most of the cruises we choose. She has the "hotline" to her Celebrity rep to help with any issues we have, always has additional OBC for our booking, and her group rates (when available) have quite a substantial savings. Otherwise, her rates are the same that Celebrity has online. I would rather that she got the commission for the booking because you get no additional perk from Celebrity by booking direct when they don't have to pay a TA commission. I see that you are from Toronto, we are north from you in Wasaga Beach. Our agent is in Collingwood and is part of a large franchise with a navy blue and red Cruiseship logo - she is the owner.

I appreciate all the responses, but has anyone been on the Beyond from May to August 2023 who can tell me if there was Kraken at the bars? Thanks again!