clmom

If you don't have a pull out clothesline in the shower on your ship....bring a few deflated balloons. when you want to dry something, blow up a balloon or 2 and drape your wet items over them. Cheap and easy to pack solution!

20 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Hope you enjoy.   If you like your Cappuccino similar to Starbucks would recommend ordering a Double Shot Dry.   My experience is most of the servers put too much milk in them and they come out more like a Latte.

 

 

Thanks for the tip!

We just got back from our NZ/Aus cruise. Flew into Aukland. First port of entry into Australia (and immigration processing) was Hobart, Tasmania. With all the dire warnings I had heard about declaring EVERYTHING I was a bit stressed. I did not want to begin our vacation with a $400 fine because I was confused as to what needs to be declared and I think the Declaration form is a bit confusing in how the questions are asked. 

 I always pack a First Aid kit with a little bit of a lot of things. I bring hard candies and gum on the plane. I have packets of instant coffee and creamer, etc. for hotel room stays. My solution was to write it all down, 2 lists (medications, food) that I could hand to the Customs agent. This was actually a two-fold blessing. It got me to update my first aid kit AND reorganize my "go-to" carryon kit. So now, I have a printed list that remains in the first aid kit. They did ask me about the Sudafed allergy medication on my list, how many pills I had and warned me that it is not allowed but because I had such a small amount (12) they would allow it this time. 

On the airplane there was an announcement about bringing food into NZ. On the cruise, at every port, there were several announcements warning against bringing food ashore. No one can claim they weren't warned.

Mina,

We have a dedicated Roll Call going for this sailing and a fabulous website created. Check it out!

Joan (clmom)

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding and honeymoon. Make sure Celebrity know it is your honeymoon, they do sometimes arrange special events like a cocktail party.

 

I think your questions have pretty well been answered.

 

You do not mention what room you have, I would strongly suggest you go for at least a balcony room....nothing quite so romantic as sitting out on the balcony, drink in hand, watching the stars.

 

On boarding see if you can negotiate a dining package (book2/3 meals at a discount). If the discount is minimal just say you will think about it and ask again a couple of days later. Discounts are based on supply and demand, some cruises offer much better discounts than others. Tours in the Med are tiring so you may prefer to enjoy the speciality restaurants on sea days.

 

As Arno said, you can buy alcohol before boarding, even if you have a drinks package it is nice to have something in your room.

 

Never tried it but I believe the Spa does a couples massage....bargains on port days but still not cheap.

 

Hope you have a wonderful cruise!

If you decide to sign up for a specialty dining package once on board, wait until you have sailed. If you are docked, you will be assessed a tax. We found out the hard way! We got the charge taken off our bill because it was never shown on anything we signed but it was a hassle.

Have a great honeymoon. We LOVE Barcelona! Show up to board the ship in early afternoon and you won't wait and your cabin might be ready!

I think it gets to the stage when you're frightened to login in case something else has disappeared or isn't working.

Yes, and the memory lingers. I am so frustrated with Celebrity's website at this point and know that our friends in the UK are also tearing their hair out trying unsuccessfully to check-in, get luggage tags AND finding out that our NE/Canada itinerary keeps changing with no notice to them . Celebrity is a great cruise experience but if given a choice between Celebrity and Princess with similar itineraries, I will now always go with Princess.

Mac computer using Safari. Unable to sign up for Shore Excursions. Have tried with my desktop Mac and with my iPad. Site lets me find the excursions I want but doesn't let me put them in my cart and actually purchase them. V-E-R-Y F-R-U-S-T-R-A-T-E-D!

Thank you for your recommendations mmendations! Where did you buy advanced tickets for the Kilmainham Gaol, online?

Yes, bought the Kilmainham Gaol tickets online. If you are on a HOHO bus, they pass by the Gaol and the staff outside will give a thumbs up or thumbs down if there are still timed spots open within that hour. Even though we had timed tickets for 1.5 hours later, we got off the bus and went in. We were not allowed to exchange our timed tickets or get a refund so we just paid again (for a shorter, cheaper tour) which freed up the rest of our afternoon so we were happy.

We walked to the La Valette Museum and found it to be just enough war occupation history for our needs. We loved walking around this charming port stop.

I'll add a word of caution about Kirkwall and other ports that are missed frequently because of weather. Most tours are pre-paid and non-refundable. We were not able to dock at Kirkwall on our May 1st cruise because of high winds. We had booked with Explore Orkney and they would not offer any refund. I am now working with my travel insurance to recoup my money. I'm not bashing the tour company for their refund policy (although they really could have offered a small goodwill gesture refund) but rather a "buyer beware" word of caution here.

Hi! We are looking for first hand recommendations for the best private tour companies in Dublin, Cork , Belfast and Bruges. Also looking for must see/ favorite stops in all of these places. Thank you!

Dublin: Did the HOHO bus. Bought timed entry tickets beforehand for the Kilmainham Gaol which has limited entrance so is not offered to larger tours. Very interesting as it was central to the late 1800/1900s political history of Ireland

Cork: ECoach/Butler tours. Blarney Castle (very crowded but the grounds are beautiful even if you decide not to climb the stairs to kiss the Blarney Stone), lovely Kinsale village for lunch. Short stop at Charlesfort. Very reasonable price.

Belfast: City and Causeway Tours with Alistar. If Alistar isn't available, ask for David who was beyond wonderful. REALLY impressed with this company. Alistar called me from Ireland to personally explain his tour offerings! David was our driver and guide and took us to out of the way places we never would have seen otherwise. If you are a Game of Thrones watcher, he knows all the filming spots. He even took us to the Peace Wall in Belfast and let us sign it. Amazing day.

cityandcausewaytours@gmail.com

Whew...here I thought I was the only one who was having issues navigating the Celebrity website! I was SO FRUSTRATED simply trying to look up shore excursions!

I will also add that if you are arriving in the morning chances are good that your room will not be available until 2pm. They do a huge pre-cruise stay volume and most of the rooms aren't vacated until late morning which means they can't get them all cleaned until early afternoon. We dropped our luggage with them and went over to the shopping center and had a late breakfast and wandered around to kill some time.

Breakfast is worth it...buffet with lots of options. There are pubs within walking distance for dinner and there is a huge shopping mall across the street with several restaurant options.

Hello - my husband and I are looking at British Isle cruises with Princess for next year - in particular the one with an overnight in Dublin. Our travel agent has told us that missed ports are frequent. Does anyone have any experience with these itineraries? Thanks!

We just did the Caribbean Princess British Isles with Kirkwall (May 1st). Lovely itinerary and had unexpectedly fabulous weather. We were not able to dock in Kirkwall. The Captain reported high winds combined with the inability to have tug boat assistance from the port. Our private tour operator, Explore Orkney, refutes this and says our docking problems had to do with the ship's bow thrusters not working properly. I tend to believe the Captain. The lesson learned though is...for ports that have the reputation of being missed because of weather, it is better safe to opt for a ship sponsored excursion. Explore Orkney has refused to refund us any portion of our money for our missed tour.

This is a port which is apparently missed frequently. Be aware that the private tour companies here generally do NOT offer refunds for pre-booked tours.

We have learned from experience. We were on the May 1st Caribbean Princess, British Isles with Kirkwall cruise. We booked a private van with Explore Orkney Tours and had to pre-pay in full prior to the cruise. When our ship was unable to dock, I emailed the company to explore the possibility of a partial refund for any costs they did not have to incur (obviously they had some costs to cover regardless of the ship docking or not). They replied the reason for the ship's inability to dock had nothing to do with the high winds the Captain had reported, but rather, finnicky ship bow thrusters. The Captain reported to us that he had requested tug assistance for this port 2 days before we arrived and was refused. So, there seems to be lots of finger pointing and we, the passengers, are left wondering who exactly to believe.

I want to stress that I understood the refund policy with this tour operator. I gambled and I failed on this one. I will hope to recoup some of my money through my Travel Insurance company. BUT...for future passengers who are researching this port, you may want to book a ship's excursion here to be safe.

We used Smith for Airports for our LHR to Southampton travel. We've used them before. Very professional. Was waiting for us when we came out of Customs/Baggage Claim. Money well spent after a long and tiring flight.

For return, we took a tour with International Friends. This time we went to Bath, Lacock and into London (although they do make a stop at Heathrow). Previously, we took the Salisbury, Stonehenge, Windsor tour with them.

The one downside to going into London is the traffic. Oh my. We were not told that we would be transferred from our big coach bus to a small van once we reached London proper. From that transfer it took over 1 hour to get us to our hotel in Trafalgar Square. It made for a loooong day!

We will be in Cobh, St. Peters port, Holyhead, Liverpool, Dublin, Belfast, Greenock, Invergordon, Portree and Edinburgh. Any suggestions for private tour companies or individuals would be greatly appreciated.:)

Just home from Caribbean Princess British Isles cruise. Did not do any ship tours. 10 in our group. We all pre-bought a Scotland Explorer's Pass which allowed entrance to most of the castles. We bought the 7 day pass which is good for any 7 days over a 14 day period. Works perfectly for this itinerary.

Guernsey (St. Peter Port): Tender in/short port time. We walked around and went to the Underground Military Musem (6GBP). Very interesting. Ann Henry does do a popular guided walking tour if you are interested in that.

Cobh (Cork): ECoach/Butler Blarney/KinsaleTour. 49 euros. Big bus, full day. Very enjoyable though. Got to Blarney Castle early and got ahead of most of the crowds. The trek up the stairs to kiss the Blarney Stone is not for the mobility challenged. Lovely castle grounds to walk around. Drove around Cork. Beautiful Kinsale for lunch. Drove through Cobh on way back to ship.

Dublin: free ship shuttle into town. Red (there is also similar Green and CitySights options) Hop On Hop Off bus 15GBP. Pre-booked (online) limited timed entrance tickets to Kilmaiham Gaol. Walked around town.

Belfast: booked a private van for 8 (6 pax makes for more comfort) for all day. 420GBP with Alister Cheyne at City and Causeway Tours. David was our guide and driver. Spectacular day! Highly recommend. http://www.cityandcausewaytours.com

Greenock (Glasgow): booked private 16 pax van (9 pax min to book van) .750GBP with Stravaigin Tours. Derek was our driver and guide. Spectacular day. Highly recommend.

Invergorden (Inverness): again booked as above with Stravaigin Tours. 850GBP. Kevin was our guide. Spectacular day. Highly recommend. http://www.stravaigintours.com

Edinburgh: shared a taxi for 25GBP into town, dropped off right in front of castle gate. Spent a few hours at castle, walked down Royal Mile to Holyrood Palace and spent couple hours there. Taxi back to ship.

Hope this helps!

joan

Add my "thumbs up" for Premier Inn West Quay in Southampton. Clean and basic. A huge shopping center is just across the street. We've stayed there twice.

We have hired a private car with smithsforairports for our pick-up at Heathrow and trip to our hotel in Southampton. For us, it is money well spent after a long and tiring all night flight. Door to door service. We know we are going to be tired so we never plan anything too ambitious for that first day.

Post-cruise, we have booked a tour with InternationalFriends to Bath-Lacock-Costswolds and then into London to be dropped off at our hotel. Again, door to door service. Zero hassle with luggage. We did the Salisbury-Stonehenge-Windsor tour with them previously and had a great experience. We especially liked that the tour guide on the bus gave us the history of what we were about to see, took care of the entrance tickets (make sure you include any entrance tickets needed when you book your tour..you'll see that option on the booking website), walked us to a central spot, gave us instructions for a meeting time and left us on our own to wander at our own speed.

While we have been to London many, many times, we had never done the HopOnHopOff bus. This last time we decided to give it a try...and loved it! Truth be told, we never got off. OK, it started pouring rain and we had great seats so we just rode the bus around and around for a few loops until the rain stopped. It is a great way to get a nice overview of English history and get your bearings in London. Included in the bus price was a river cruise..again, something we had never done before. It was surprising great. The London "tube" (subway) system is a great way to get around. Expect big crowds during morning and afternoon rush periods.

Lots of information on these boards. have a great time planning your trip!

My wife and I will be on our first cruise aboard the Coral in April on a 15-day Panama Canal cruise in a full suite. We will be doing shore excursions (booked through Princess) at all of the ports.

 

I know that there are strong opinions about tipping over and above the automatic gratuity. It's not my intent to revisit those issues or get folks riled up with this thread.

 

Instead, I'm interested in experienced cruisers' opinions about how much cash you would bring with you for tips (both on board ship and in ports) if you were going on this cruise. How much, and do you bring a few $20s, $10s, and mostly $5s and $1s?

On our last cruise I calculated all our tips before we left home, got the proper denominations in bills and put it all in one envelope with a list (cabin steward, tour guides, tour bus drivers, taxis). I added some extra small bills for the unanticipated ..room service, good bartenders, etc. It didn't cover everything but it made for a more relaxing cruise because I didn't have to scramble at the last minute and stand in any lines to break large bills.

We liked the Hotel Jazz - small but comfortable rooms very chic. Great roof top pool, bar, snacks

 

 

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Just back from our Spain/Portugal cruise a couple of weeks ago. I vote for Hotel Jazz also. Great location, wonderful rooftop pool and bar. We had a casual gathering of some of our Roll Call group the night before we boarded at the roof top bar. It was great!

Select dining should be strictly first come first served..if no spaces available, use the beepers like Outback.

 

Select started when folks did not want to be locked into a set time of early or late seating for each night of the cruise..that makes some sense

 

..but then being able to make a set nightly res seems to run opposite to the gen concept...seems designed to flop esp with walk ins also being served

I agree, Select Dining might work better if it was first come, first served. No reservations allowed. Also, those passengers who choose Traditional Dining should not be allowed to use SD at their whim (late sail aways/shore excursions), or at the very least, not be allowed to use SD until after 8:30p when the dinner rush is over. We were recently on the Equinox and on many evenings observed empty tables when we KNEW there were people holding beepers. I foresee Traditional Dining disappearing altogether in the future. We enjoy Specialty Dining when it is....special. We would not go back to Sushi on 5 or Silk Harvest unless we got a great deal on a dining package and we were not "wowed" by Sabatini's this past cruise. Our favorite place when the weather is nice is the outside area of Horizon Court. No one is ever out there, we can pick and choose our food from the buffet and enjoy our meal at our own pace. Oops..now I've given away our secret...

This is one more reason we love Princess! DH gets up early and goes for coffee and pastries in the morning and brings them back to our cabin. We bring snacks back in the late afternoon to enjoy on our balcony for sail away. We were recently on Celebrity and noticed we NEVER saw people carrying food to their cabins. We didn't know if it was an etiquette thing or fully frowned upon by Celebrity but we felt uncomfortable doing it. It didn't stop us though....

Hi to all:

Has anyone taken a Princess Cruisetour? I am especially interested in Europe and Asia.

If so were you pleased with it?

Thank you.

We did an Asia Cruisetour in 2014.

All in all, I thought Princess did a great job...great guides, fabulous hotels, great itinerary (exhausting but boy, did we see A LOT!). Our guide was with us every minute on the land tour, guided us through several flights, buses and train trips. All of our entry fees, meals and every small detail was taken care of for us. We could not have done all we did on our own. That said, we did have 2 negative experiences.

The first, a huge price drop in the cruise only portion and we did not qualify to take advantage because a Cruisetour is priced as a whole and not individually (tour, cruise). In retrospect, I wouldn't do this particular trip differently because Asia was so foreign to us but might consider booking a land tour with a separate company if the price difference was considerable and we were in Europe. It just did not make any sense to me that they couldn't separate out the land vs cruise price but that is the chance you take.

The 2nd negative was the ship that was used on the Yangtze River portion of our land tour. It was deplorable...moldy, dirty, old...an embarrassment to the Princess product. In defense of Princess, we happened to be on this tour during "Golden Week" which is one of the busiest travel times in China. The availability of ships for the river portion was probably in short supply and 2014 was just the beginning of the big Princess push into the Asian market. They most likely came a little late to the table and had to accept what was available for the group size (100 in our group). I hope this has been addressed as Princess certainly heard an earful from all of us about that junk of a boat!

Do your research, compare prices and once you decide, just go with the flow and enjoy the experience!