kathynorth

We went to Blue Bay last Dec. I found out when the ship tour was departing and we made sure we jumped in a cab before then. While on the cab line I asked if anyone else was interested in going to Blue Bay and recruited 2 other couples to share the ride. We each paid $8 for the 20 min cab ride to Blue Bay, then another $8 for entry. Since we arrived before the cruise tour group we have plenty of loungers and palapas to choose from at that time of day. People who came later seemed to wander about looking for empty loungers. The water, beach, and bathrooms were clean, but bring your own towels. We didn't buy any food, so I can only say there was a restaurant and lots of people were buying food to take back to their loungers. Several servers circulated taking drink orders. There were outside showers to rinse off your feet. We asked our drop off cab driver to pick us up at 2 and he was waiting for us at the gate when we wanted to leave for our $8 pp return trip. Our overall $24pp trip was a much better deal than the ship tour to Blue Bay. IMO this was a nice and inexpensive beach day and we'll likely return on future trips.

We ran into a similar situation about 5 yrs ago. We were told we would be charged for name changes if we did this before cruising. We went to Guest Services and they swapped who was where for us at no cost. I'm not sure if this is a company policy or if we happened to encounter a helpful staff member.

You can pre-purchase entry tickets online for the Colosseum and Vatican Museum. Doing this will save you substantial time as you can bypass the ticket lines. We waited more than 2 hrs on the Vatican Museum line on our first visit to Rome. The next time we had tickets in hand and walked right in. If you go to the Vatican Museum do not bring anything large that would need to be checked at the front gate because the exit is on the opposite side of the building and it's a very long walk to retrieve your belongings. Save your visit to the Sistine Chapel for the last thing you want to see at the museum. There is a door on the right rear of the chapel that is used by organized tours to enter directly into St. Peter's that bypasses the outside security line. If you blend in with an organized tour as they exit this door you'll be saving yourself lots of walking time and another long wait. We've been to the Colosseum several times and found the Underground Colosseum tour to be the best. You need to call them directly to book this tour, but it's well worth it. You can also purchase a combo ticket that provides quick access to the Forum and Palatine. For dinner, we really enjoyed our meal at one of the outdoor restaurants at Piazza Navona.

I would stay in Rome for as many nights as you're travel schedule allows. Where you stay may be impacted based on cost and how you plan to move around the city. If you plan to do plenty of walking then you may want to explore options that are near Piazza Navona/Parthenon areas. If you plan to hire a tour guide with car, use public transport or just hail cabs from place to place, then the outer neighborhoods have lots of reasonably priced options. Last time we were there we visited Rome we stayed at an apartment near the Vatican that we found on VRBO. On another trip we stayed at Hotel Gerber, which is located near the Prati area. We used Jump Limousine to transport the morning of our cruise. The van held 8 passengers each with 1 lg suitcase. We posted our open seats on our roll call and found others who wished to transport with us from Rome to Civitiavechhia. We all shared the cost and were on ship by 11am. As Wine-O pointed out, you need to ask whomever you arrange your transport with if they have access right outside the ship. Otherwise you have to wait for the shuttle bus to bring you and your luggage to the ship. We found lots of wonderful advice for Rome in the Italy thread. One suggestion is to determine your must see sights and map these out on a map along with your hotel. You can then cluster these according to location to make efficient use of your time. Also, you can see amazing works of art located in churches throughout Rome, so consider mapping these out on you map so you can make quick stops that may be located close by your main stops. For example, the Coloseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill are right next to each other.

It sounds like you have an exciting adventure planned. It's great that Celebrity was able to help you find a solution to your disrupted itinerary. Have fun!

We email special needs and ask for distilled water and an extension cord. Special needs will respond to confirm they've received your request. These are usually in the cabin when we arrive. If not, just remind the cabin steward.

Yes, MDR will be open. We went back to the ship to eat, then back out to the port on late night departures.

The paired wines for the Chef's Table is an extra cost. You can order wine using your beverage package from the regular wine menu. If you want to book specific days and times to eat at the specialty restaurants you need to get on the ship early and head straight to any of the specialty restaurants to book. You can book for all 5 dinners at that time. You can rearrange your dinners as the cruise progresses, but you chance not being able to book the days or times you prefer as the restaurants do book up. We have found it easier to get our preferred days and times on longer cruises.

Sorry, my error. The Solstice cruises up the Endicott Arm.

We've been on 2 Alaska cruises. All 3 of these cruises are a good choice because they all include Hubbard Glacier, which is awesome. Alaska cruises are very tiring because you have lots of daylight hours, so My 1st choice would be Millennium- The M has already been refreshed. Since this itinerary is from Vancouver to Seward (or reverse) the ship travels through the inside passage and since it's an open-jaw you get the additional stop in Skagway. This itinerary has nice long port hrs in Juneau and Icy Straight, so you can do more than 1 excursion if you have the $ and energy to do so. Even enough time to go back on ship for dinner, then off to do something else. If you have the time you can also plan a couple of extra pre/post cruise days on both ends. 2nd choice Eclipse- because it's out/in Vancouver the ship travels through the inside passage, which is calm and beautiful. Also has decent port hrs, but not as long as Millennium. 3rd choice Solstice- starts and ends the trip on the Pacific side of Victoria and it can sometimes be turbulent in that area. Some people prefer flying in and out of Seattle so that is also a factor to consider

We were recently on the Silhouette. We made online reservations for 7:30 each night via our cruise planner. We only had a couple mins wait for a table and were seated in the same section each night. The one night we arrived late we had to wait 15 mins and were seated in a different section.

Hello Marianna, We did the Celebrity Xpedition with MP extension in Aug 2016 and had a fabulous time! Ours was the outer loop. There were several passengers on our cruise who didn't snorkel, and they were offered additional zodiac trips to view the wildlife during times when snorkel excursions were offered. The tour guides did a great job of adjusting excursions to meet the needs of all the passengers. Although I thought I was well prepared I was surprised by having difficulty with the altitude. This mostly presented as a bit of dizziness and a persistent headache that would go away soon after we moved to lower altitudes. I was first hit when we went on a private tour to Cotopaxi. Then again when we visited Ollantaytambo and Cusco during on the Peru extension. Macchu Picchu was not a problem. The Celebrity tour guides were great with helping me out. At one stop during the tour they brought me into a quiet garden and offered me an oxygen treatment. When we stayed in Cusco they arranged for oxygen to be pumped directly into our room. As a side note, I grew up in NHP!

It sometimes takes a couple of days for the TA OBC to show on your account.

We did a Celebrity cruise then tour to Denali awhile back. The entire trip was seemless. The only problem was that I like all the details ahead of time and we didn't have our exact itinerary, hotels, where we were eating, etc until we met with the tour director on the day we disembarked from the ship. However, everything that was supposed to be included was there. I recall that some meals were included and others were not. The accommodations were top notch, except for the hotel at Denali, which was more like a 3 star. The tour guide gives you a list of optional excursions you can sign up for, with an additional fee. We were also able to book a few private tours during the evening hours to supplement the tours that were included in the trip. You'll find lots of info on this on the Alaska board.

Martini flights are not included in the beverage packages. You need to pay extra for this, but the bartender usually puts on a pouring show for you. You can also order each of the drinks included in a flight one drink at a time if you want to save money.