delondin

We were on Oceania and they had green tea Bulgari which was ok (great moisturiser) but everyone had the same smell, so was overpowering in the theatre etc!

We will be trying out the Molecular bar on the Reflection in about 11 days. I'm so excited to try some of the drinks. I will only try a few during the cruise for $13 a pop since they are not covered in my beverage package.

If Adrian is still serving there you are in for a treat. He is the best barman I have ever encountered. Such a talented person.

One more question:

As you were sailing from UK, did you have a kettle in your cabin?

Yes there was but we had an aqua cabin and there is not really room for it. We asked for the complimentary flavoured tea that you get in Aqua to be removed as we don't like it and then moved the kettle tray to that place, otherwise there is no room for makeup etc. The safe on Eclipse is in the cupboard next to the 'dressing table' so there is no room to store makeup etc there. On solstice the safe has always been in the wardrobe iirc.

Just back off eclipse. Tried several of the drinks at new world class bar. All very nice but unfortunately not anything like the Molecular drinks. It's early days so hopefully the menu will expand. Three of them are outside the premium package so have to pay upgrade price.

The point is I feel Celebrity moved the goal posts. We paid for two premium drinks packages for our next two cruises based on the drinks in the Molecular bar. Ok so they take away the Molecular Bar (one of those things) but then Replace it with a similar concept but all of a sudden the drinks are not in the package.

We spent every evening of our last Celebrity cruises, one of 17 nights and one of 18 nights in the Molecular and was planning the same for our 18 night cruise next year. That's a lot of $2 plus 18% in my mind.

Will the new cocktails be included in the premium package, as Molecular was one of the reasons we purchased the package.

I wouldn't get too worried about the weather as we did the auckland to papeete cruise this February that you queried and didn't book because of feedback. I must admit after reading that thread we were panicked but as we are from the UK and non refundable deposit didn't have much choice. The weather was amazing. We had a bit of rain in Fiji but only for part of the day so didn't spoil our enjoyment. Papeete was torrential rain when we arrived but by mid afternoon was glorious. Moorea was cloudy with rain in the afternoon, but for our snorkelling tour was great. So weather is unpredictable and so glad we risked it because it was worth it. We were very lucky as cyclone Pam was three days behind us which would have impacted on our cruise, but luckily it didn't.

Sounds amazing. I think you need another holiday to get over it!

Sorry for the delay but straight back to work the day after travelling for 40 hours, busy time at work and family funeral. Anyway we loved it.

We had amazing weather. We were expecting torrential rain and cyclones but were so lucky. We had some torrential rain in fiji but it was short lived and didn't impact on our enjoyment.

In Bora Bora we did Patrick's half day tour, arrianged privately through CC, which I would highly recommend. We swam with sharks in 50 foot open Ocean, which considering I had never snorkelled before, don't like swimming in the sea, am scared of fish, was amazing. Even my family can't believe I did it even though they have seen the photos. The guide on board the ship didn't recommend swimming here because of the chance of encountering lemon sharks, but we risked it and were glad we did. The stingrays were hysterical/terrifying. So friendly - too friendly, but we had such fun and the coral garden was beautiful. The weather the first day was sunny, high 80's and cloudy high 80's the second day.

On the second day in Bora we caught the shuttle bus to Mantira beach for $5 per person, about 15-20 mins away and enquired at the Intercontinental for a day pass. They quoted $65 per person for lunch and use of the facilities. I have to say they were not very welcoming and we would not be allowed to use their pool or pontoon. We said we would think about it and they said well you have two minutes to decide! Needless to say we didn't stay there. We had a very pleasant day on the beach with a nice lunch in a local cafe for a lot less money.

In Moorea which started very overcast and hot we did a ship's tour, which in my opinion was overpriced and not well described. We made the best of it and had a lovely day swimming with more sharks, although smaller than Bora, and more stingrays which was fun. There were too many boats at the same time which made it crowded and the current was very strong so getting back on the boat was difficult. We were again lucky with the weather and the sun shone for our snorkelling and picnic lunch, only starting to rain on our return tender to the ship. I would not have wanted to stay in Moorea post cruise at this time of year as the weather it too unpredictable and there didn't seem to be a lot to do in the rain, unless honeymooning! This was our last stop before disembarking the next day and hadn't really thought through packing wet costumes etc.

Definitely recommend water shoes for all these trips.

When we arrived in Papeete to disembark it was very hot, early 90's but unbelievable rain, bouncing off the sea. We were dreading getting off with our luggage etc but luckily the rain stopped just in time for that. By mid afternoon it was brilliant sunshine but there was one point when out of nowhere the rain came down heavily but just as quickly stopped. Bear in mind if in Pappete on a Sunday nothing is open. I could go into detail re post cruise arrangements but that is probably best left to the Oceania board.

In Noumea we did the hop on hop off bus and stopped at Lemon beach which was pleasant and calm, although on a busy road. There was some shade under the trees on the grassy bank. Recommend take water shoes. If I went again I would take the hoho bus to duck island. They drop you off where you get a water taxi type thing. I heard really good stories about the snorkelling and facilities there and much cheaper than the ship's excursions to an island, especially at Oceania prices.

Apart from Patrick's tour in Bora bora which is amazing, we did ship's tour on Moorea with stingrays. It was a visit to an island with snorkelling stop. It was fun and we really enjoyed interacting with stingrays and loads of sharks, although the Sharks were smaller than the ones in Bora bora, but there were too many boats at once and too crowded to fully enjoy the experience.

No fins with Patrick but highly recommend - probably our best cruise day ever.

We got off Marina last week and were able to get first night reservation on the day. Wonder why they changed it. I thought the reason they allowed it was to spread the load on the first night.

We are doing our last minute packing (oh the stress!) and was going to pack a beach bag but know we get a tote bag in cabin is that good enough to use as a beach bag?

Weather tipping is a custom or not isn't even the point.

 

The point is that Celebrity advertises and lets all passengers know that it has a policy to add gratuities to all transactions.

 

Foget custom, weather one wants to agree or disagree with forced tipping.

 

Celebrity makes it part of the overall pricing scheme and lets people know about their policy of this issue. No different really than airlines have a fee for the ticket and adding on a Fuel Surcharge, or FedEx pricing its services plus a "fuel surcharge"

 

If it helps, tell yourselves it's a "service charge" and avoid use of word tip or gratuity. In the end it matters not what name it's given, it's an added on fee the amount of which doesn't change no matter what it's called.

 

Though I'm not sure perhaps there is a cruise line or several who don't have a policy of adding a percentage to onboard purchases or allowing guests to tip staff, or don't place tip envelopes out during the cruise, I'd be interested in knowing if there is any line out there who does not tack on an automatic amount daily, or to F&B or to spa services, but rather just has a single all-incusive price with no surcharges added.

Regent is all inclusive, drinks, flights, tours and gratuities. Also Crystal includes drinks and gratuities. Azamara includes drinks and gratuities too.

We have found tendering on the Solstice painfully slow. Even on a ships excursion in Bali we were all called from the theatre but there was no organisation to make sure we all got on the same tender. So most of the tour got on the tender and then had to wait on the bus until the remaining passengers got on the second tender - about half an hour.

When we tendered into the Bay of Islands, NZ, we had an afternoon ship's tour and were responsible for getting our own tender tickets to be on shore at the correct pick up time.

Ship's tours get off first.

My advice would be to grab a tender ticket as soon as the line opens and then at least you can be the first off after the tours. We have made the mistake of thinking we would go down later after the rush, but then we are waiting for a long time.

Does anyone know whether you could get off with friends who are elite, using their priority tendering, if you were doing a private excursion with them.

Sorry, but still expensive at £199 for 2 nights. You don't get on the ship until mid-day and then one full day and you are off the ship again very early the next morning. Le Havre is not the nicest port and Paris is a very long coach trip. This cruise is really only one and a half days (two nights)

Not when you compare it to staying in a four star hotel and it includes drinks and gratuities.

I have to say I am pleasantly surprised. Everyone seems to love it. Apart from our cruise next month we have booked a future cruise next year with a couple of Tahiti stops. Some people have said but what if you don't like it this year (bearing in mind in the UK our money is non refundable) and I have replied I will be in the minority if that is the case. Also taking into account that people on this forum are quite often the first to say that something's/somewhere is not great I feel very enthusiastic. So thank you everyone.

Ponant does cruises around Japan, their ship L'Austral if I am not mistaken.

Recently watched a documentary on their sister ship. Was impressed, if bad weather captain sent team ahead to alternative stops to check out if suitable for his guests. Only 11,000 tons and very French but looked a great experience.

I am in the UK and after reading this thread thought I would upgrade my drinks package on a cruise in May and pay for premium package for cruise next year now before the rate goes up to 18%. However on the UK Celebrity website it says that an 18% service charge will be added at checkout. It's not the 1st of February yet. What's going on?

Hi

It has been a lifelong dream to go to FP and we are going this year. Read so many positive reviews and seen so many repeat customers, just wondered if anyone was disappointed and thought it wasn't what they expected.

did you check out the sticky on solstice cabins?

Yes thanks I did. I wanted more opinions as everyone is different and some people are not in the cabin much during the day and are early risers etc so it wouldn't be an issue for them. We are late to bed, late up in the am and spend a lot of time in our cabin relaxing.

Thank you. So 1636/1638 are the better options?

I am looking to book one of these AQ cabins. I have read about crew door in the vicinity. Can anyone tell me where it is exactly and if/how it affects these cabins.

Thanks.

I don't think that yogurt parfait is covered by the premium package?

It was on Solstice earlier in the year.