PaulaW

Thanks for the great report. I’ve been enjoying it very much!

I was wondering if you could please comment on your cousin’s wedding? My boyfriend and I are talking about getting married and a shipboard wedding sounds appealing.

Did everything go well? Was she happy with everything? Any insight you can offer would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

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Thank you so much! Really looking forward to my trip to the "Top of the World."

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Koningsdam June 11, 2017. 14 day Voyage of the Midnight Sun.

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I, too, have been faithfully following your review and Periscopes and just wanted to extend my thanks as well. I will be sailing on the Allure for the first time in May and now I am looking forward to it even more than before.

Thanks for all the great photos, reviews and amusing commentary. Safe travels home!

I just booked on Choice Air for my cruise out of Rome in October. The Choice Air price, round trip was approx. $1000 pp. The exact same flight when booked through American Airlines was $1500! There are definitely some good deals to be had when booking through Choice Air!

Hi,

 

We are arranging some private tours on our next cruise & a few of the passengers have mentioned getting tickets to get off in port. I know this is the case when we tender but I have never done this when I have docked. Please could someone verify this for us? We are cruising New Zealand.

 

Many thanks

I did the Australia/New Zealand cruise on the Solstice in 2013. If memory serves correctly, the only tender port in NZ was Akaroa and like with any other tender port, you will need tickets. Otherwise you will dock normally and no tickets are needed. No visas are needed for NZ.

When we were there in August we didn't leave the ship until 1.00 pm. We caught the boat to Oia and the bus back at 4 and I believe the last bus back to town was 5 pm. If you wanted to stay later you could always catch the local bus or a taxi back.

Thank you so much for the information!

We were there last week and the boat is running to Oia. The cost was 10 euros per person round trip...boat to Oia and bus back to Fira. The bus back to Fira ran at 11:00, 12:00, 13:00 and 14:00 pm.

We don't arrive in Santorini until the afternoon. Do you know if the boat and bus combo operates on an afternoon schedule as well?

Thanks.

This topic has been covered on several threads in the past month or more. And their statistics are in error. Cunard has had a female ship captain since Dec. 1, 2010, and I believe Royal Caribbean has had one even longer by several years. EM

 

http://wearecunard.com/2010/12/cunard-appoints-the-line%E2%80%99s-first-female-captain/

 

Royal Caribbean in 2007

 

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/royal-caribbean-international-names-first-female-captain-of-a-major-cruise-ship-58142532.html

I believe the distinction is that she is the first AMERICAN female captain.

Go Kate!

It is listed, if you sign into your reservation and click on cruise calendar, it shows the scheduled port and alternative ports and the times the ship will dock in each port if they go with the alternative itinerary.

Yes, I see my calendar is listed that way too for the Oct 12 sailing.

It is not encouraging to see that the 9/21 sailing has been changed now as well.

Watching it from the ship will mean missing time in port!

 

 

 

I am on the same cruise as you in October, and on the day we're in Santorini the sun will be setting around 6:45pm. We're in port from 2-10pm. While the view from the ship may be great, I don't want to be back onboard 3.5-4 hours early.

Completely understandable. Having been to Santorini a couple times before, a few hours in port is plenty for me!

Besides, I still firmly believe the best views come from the ship. So for me, it's worth it to be back onboard early.

We are in port until 10PM so seeing it from the ship probably isn't an option. Perhaps we could find a local sunset cruise to take. Any other suggestions?

See my post above!

Actually, the best spot to see it is from the ship! The ship is anchored in the caldera and you have a 360 degree view of everything. As the sun sets, the walls of the surrounding cliffs glow beautifully.

I am also on the October 12 sailing and while I understand safety has to come first, I am very disappointed with the revisions. I hope that perhaps things will stay the same for our cruise.

Istanbul was a major reason I booked this cruise and I know that no port is guaranteed and sometimes things don't work out the way we hope.

But I have to echo some of earlier posts on WHY there is an overnight in Athens? I have been there previously and I have no interest in spending an extra day there. I didn't enjoy it all that much the first time I was there. UGH!

Celebrity, are you listening? Please reconsider this for future cruises if necessary!

We have seen the sun set in Oia and Fira (both excellent) but the best one of all was years ago when we were on the original Star Princess. We had tendered back to the ship and were in a top deck hot tub as the sun was setting on a gorgeous day. As the sun went down, the changes in the light reflected off the island (and Fira) was absolutely stunning. We can watch the sun set over the sea in many different places and see it nearly everyday when we are living in Puerto Vallarta (we have a western ocean view from our Condo balcony). But watching the changing light and shadow patterns from the ship was the most memorable moment in our dozen or so visits to the island.

 

Hank

I couldn't agree more. I have been fortunate enough to visit Santorini twice. Once sailing in at sunrise and once departing after sunset. The views from the ship are not to be understated! They're beautiful!

So presumably this means the guys on the charter are leaving the ship a day earlier than they expected. How on earth will 3000 gay guys find accommodation for a night in Istanbul? Seems a little unfair to expect them to do that.

No, I don't believe that is the case. They will be arriving back in Istanbul on the day they would have left the ship anyways. I am guessing they have probably added another sea day to the end of their itinerary to account for the lost day in Istanbul.

Thanks Jazzbeau!

Great information!

 

We were not alone I talked to a few other cruisers that had done 15 - 20 cruises and they had never seen anything like the disorganization on this cruise. :mad:

I agree.

I don't mean to go off topic, but after many, many wonderful cruises on Celebrity and being very happy with prior cruises on the Silhouette, there was something amiss on our June British Isles cruise. I left the cruise loving the itinerary and receiving good service from the staff, but overall things were very disorganized!

Thank you so much for such a comprehensive review. This is a cruise I have been wanting to do and I understand how things work so much better now. And thank you for the comparison of the Inner and Outer Loop. I was wondering what the basic differences are.

For a fall cruise, which itinerary would you recommend?

I am sorry to say I also had a bad experience in Tuscan on the Silhouette. My friend and I cruised in June on the British Isles cruise.

I have visited Tuscan Grille numerous times: on the Solstice, the Constellation and 3 times on the Silhouette. It had always been one of my favorite specialty restaurants, until now.

I had to send my steak back 3 times! The first time, it was clearly overcooked and the waiter had the audacity to argue with me! He said it was the lighting of the restaurant. Huh?? Then, of course, my second steak was undercooked and had to be sent back again, only to receive it a third time completely charred and tasteless.

Meanwhile, all my side dishes had grown cold and my companion had finished eating long ago.

Eventually, they did get it right and my sides were replaced, but by then, it was too late. Our nice dinner had been ruined.

What really irritated me was the lack of concern by our waiter and being argued with. The maitre 'd only offered a very half-hearted apology. No effort was made to compensate me or to encourage us to come back a different night.

Extremely disappointing! Needless to say, when cruising on the Reflection this fall, Tuscan WON'T be on our dining agenda.

So, when we disembark in Amsterdam do we have to go through customs or does the ship get cleared and we just get off and get to our taxi??

If your previous port is in the EU (which I am guessing it is) there will be no customs to go through. I disembarked the Silhouette last week in Amsterdam and there were no delays and no customs at the cruise terminal. The problem was at the airport. Be prepared for lots and lots of crowds and delays. It took me nearly 2 hours just to get checked in, drop my bag, go through security before finally making it to the gate.

And definitely do self-debark and have a private driver waiting for you!

Good luck!

Last month, I booked a European cruise while onboard another cruise. We were still under the 123GO promo. I noticed that the price of our cruise has gone down by $150 pp. I plan to call the Captain's Club, but wanted to check here for advice.

 

Since the cruise was booked under an expired promo, I assume that the CC will tell me that I will lose the perks. However, there is the new "Spring" perk going on. So, if I cannot get a price drop and keep my perks, I could always cancel the cruise and rebook under the new promo. However, wouldn't that mean that I would lose the OBC that I received for booking onboard my last cruise?

 

I guess if all else fails, I could wait until I board my spring break cruise next weekend and then rebook IF the pricing is still reduced on the European cruise. :rolleyes:

 

Any price drop before final experiences welcome. :)

I believe that the onboard booking bonus is transferrable ONE time only. If that is the case, you could cancel and rebook if the new promo is indeed at a lower rate and still keep your original onboard booking credit!

Hi all,

 

Please find the correct information below:

 

1 MON 10/12/15 ROME (CIVITAVECCHIA), ITALY 5:00p

2 TUE 10/13/15 AT SEA

3 WED 10/14/15 SANTORINI, GREECE 2:00p 10:00p

4 THU 10/15/15 AT SEA

5 FRI 10/16/15 ISTANBUL, TURKEY 7:00a

6 SAT 10/17/15 ISTANBUL, TURKEY 1:00p

7 SUN 10/18/15 EPHESUS (KUSADASI), TURKEY 11:00a 8:00p

8 MON 10/19/15 MYKONOS, GREECE 7:00a 6:00p

9 TUE 10/20/15 ATHENS (PIRAEUS), GREECE 6:00a 6:00p

10 WED 10/21/15 AT SEA

11 THU 10/22/15 NAPLES, ITALY 7:00a 6:30p

12 FRI 10/23/15 ROME (CIVITAVECCHIA), ITALY 5:00a

Hello Celebrity,

Thank you for trying to clarify this. I am on the October 12, 2015 cruise too. I specifically had my travel agent call Celebrity last evening and he was told this is the correct itinerary:

Day 1 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy 5:00PM

Day 2 At Sea

Day 3 Santorini, Greece Tendered 2:00PM 10:00PM

Day 4 Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey Docked 10:00AM 7:00PM

Day 5 At Sea

Day 6 Istanbul, Turkey Docked 7:00AM

Day 7 Istanbul, Turkey Docked 1:00PM

Day 8 Mykonos, Greece Tendered 9:30AM 8:00PM

Day 9 Athens (Piraeus), Greece Docked 6:00AM 6:00PM

Day 10 At Sea

Day 11 Naples, Italy Docked 7:00AM 6:30PM

Day 12 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy 5:00AM

How can one company have so many discrepancies?

How do I know who to believe?

If I didn't already have airfare booked, I would cancel the whole cruise just because this isn't worth the aggravation.

Hi!

I used Private Guides in Split. I was very happy with our experience. We did walking tours in Split and Trogir and had a very knowledgeable guide. All correspondence was promptly and pleasantly answered and I was very impressed with the information provided with my initial inquiries.

Here is their website:

privateguidesteam@gmail.com

Thanks to everyone once again for all of the great information!

Walking is not a problem for us. We are just trying to find the easiest and most economical option.

We will be spending one night pre-cruise in Venice and then the Silhouette also overnights, so we're weighing a 36/48 hour vaporetto pass versus the Celebrity-sponsored shuttle. Perhaps we really won't be able to make that decision until we see where the ship is docked.

We sailed on the Silhouette on 15th July ending in Venice. Celebrity charge $35 for 2 or $20 per person. We were a family of 4 and paid $70. It was very convenient as it was a short walk from the ship and took us just along from St Marks Square. You can go to and from the ship all day.

Thank you so much! That is exactly the info I was looking for.

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