cleobella

I agree that seeing Stonehenge from Southampton is a breeze. If you have a couple of pre days it is a lovely day trip. We took a train ride Salisbury ( I think it was short, 30 or 40 min). Very close to where you get off you can buy tickets for a Bus that takes you out to the Stonehenge, like JB said. This includes tickets to the attraction. You can also buy these tickets on line if I remember correctly. When you are done you can spend some time in Salisbury, the Cathedral is historic and beautiful. It’s a nice easy day. We also considered going out to Bath, a bit longer on the train but saved that for the next trip.

We will be in St Thomas in Jan with HAL. If we want to spend a couple of hours at Megan’s Bay, use the Skyride and maybe shop what is the best way to get around? Is it possible to walk from port to town? Is the sky ride actually in town?

We will be in St Thomas in Jan with HAL. If we want to spend a couple of hours at Megan’s Bay, use the Skyride and maybe shop what is the best way to get around? Is it possible to walk from port to town? Is the sky ride actually in town?

Does anyone know if the Equinox has a nice thermal area with loungers, sauna, etc? I was considering booking a cruise on the Equinox but when I look up spa services I can not see the weekly pass offered.

We were on the Solstice recently and the Persian Garden is separate from the treatment areas, you need special key card access to go in, except on the first day when they are running tours. In the old days you could sometimes get access to the thermal area after or before a treatment but I think this is now not possible. Too bad because the spa treatments are very expensive and adding in a brief stay in the thermal area pre or post would make services more attractive. I say add in the Persian Garden access and axe the up sell of products, lol!

Wondering if it is safe, affordable and even possible to get a taxi at the pier to do a short tour of the island, seeing two or three sights, and possibly dropping off at Chaweng Beach for shopping. Is it easy to get a taxi at the Central Festival Mall to return to the ship? How much do taxi's charge in Koh Samui for a short island tour? Thanks for any info!

Hello, I am looking for some advice about ship excursions (we will be on Celebrity). We have reserved Hoi An "On Your Own". Does anyone know where they drop off and what kind of attractions or experiences can be reached on foot there? For Ho Chi Minh we've tentatively booked an excursion that includes Ben Thang Market, Dong Khoi Street and a Lacquerware Factory. I'm getting a sense of mixed reviews, maybe this is a busy and chaotic excursion? I am also looking at a Colonial Saigon excursion, Ho Chi Minh Excursion (I guess a general overview) both are long tours that provide a downtown restaurant lunch. I'm not entirely sure of the difference here except maybe just more focus on the old Saigon neighborhood and architecture with the first one? Also there is a short 4 hour "Local Life Ba Rai" experience that might be a nice easy pace with visits to a rice making shop and a local house and temple. Has anyone done this? I feel it may be a good break as we have a few big busy cities on the itinerary, however many people say not to miss Ho Chi Minh. I thought the shopping streets would be good but in reading up it seems that they are quite frenetic, confusing, full of pick pockets, and many of the merchants are not pleasant, also we would have to sort out our own lunch. I prefer local guides but as the ports are quite a distance from the the sights it seems wiser to go with ship offerings, but the descriptions are vague and there are no reviews on the website. If anyone has done any of these options or has any info here please pass along your wisdom.

I think cruising glory days may be behind us. I'm not that old but have been cruising for almost 25 years now and there have been so many subtle and not so subtle changes to cruising over the years. Our recent cruises have been a bit less fun and definitely more focused on the upsell. A couple of people come to mind who made cruising just a hoot. While the newer staff and Cruise Directors are all pleasant and I'm sure work really hard, they do not match the experience that some of the veterans provided. They seem to tell you that you are having fun, but lack the ability create fun and be entertaining themselves. A couple who come to mind are : John Heald (Carnival) and the Washy Washy guy (I think NCL, but maybe Carnival, sorry I can not remember his actual name). John was a super funny and energetic Cruise Director who went beyond just introducing and updating cruisers at the show to providing hilarious commentary after the shows, interacting with cruisers, and providing super fun, and silly, games that put everyone in a good mood. I think he retired but is still somehow connected to Carnival. The Washy Washy guy was the fellow who met everyone at the entrance to the buffet with a funny and cheerful request to "washy washy" your hands. No one turned him down because he was so fun and this must have been better for germ management. Now there are automatic dispensers and sometimes a quiet person offering hand gel as you go in, but they are not usually so engaging, so they get ignored. I feel that if cruise lines could just replicate these two people then cruising would be so much more fun!

We did a Celebrity Shore Excursion. We usually use local operators but I had heard that the availability of guides is a challenge and the shuttle might not be available, as well the shuttle apparently drops you off with a 1 km walk. It is a simple and straightforward trip and worked out well for us

We just came back from a similar cruise. We had great weather and saw the Hubbard Glacier under amazing conditions. We also went to Mendenhall and I have to say it was a good experience too and a there is a nice contrast between the two glaciers. Hubbard is larger, you can see and hear the calving, and watch blue ice chunks floating around and sea lions swimming among them. Mendenhall is a short excursion and could be paired with a visit into town or some other excursion. The walking trails are easy and the visitor's center is interesting and informative. The Hubbard Glacier is actually growing, which is unusual. The Mendenhall is quickly losing it's mass. We were told that it likely wont be there at all in another 25 years. It was so interesting to see and compare these two very different glaciers.

We just returned from our cruise and did stop in at Tracy's King Crab. We went after a short 3 hour tour and were lucky that we only had a couple of people ahead of us in line. It is a crowded place but seats do open up quickly. I would avoid lunch time to beat the crowding. However, it is extremely expensive! One "claw", a pound of crab meat, was $75 US dollars, so about $120 of our CAN dollars. So much more expensive then in PEI or New Brunswick. But it is a fun experience, and they are super quick to move the lines, very tasty crab for sure.

Thanks all! Super helpful!

We are taking an excursion where we sail in a smaller boat to see the Hubbard Glacier up close. We were planning to bring our waterproof rain jackets, with a tee and hoodie underneath. Should we be dressing even warmer than this? Is a winter coat necessary? Maybe some who has done this can advise?

That makes it a bit more clear, thanks Globaliser!

Thanks Zach. I’ve heard good things about Cathay so fingers crossed. I did notice that EVA has 2 levels of premium economy, regular and a Premium Economy “UP”. If anyone has any EVA info, please weight in

Thanks everyone for the info. We are flying Cathay Air to Hong Kong and Eva home from Singapore. I hope the “Premium Economy” really is a bit more spacious. The websites do seem to indicate that they are true Premium Economy seats and I’ve heard that the airlines from Asia tend to offer a good flight experience. I wish I could afford Business Class but unfortunately will need a lottery win for that to happen. I guess we just got a great price from Celebrity Air, win for us!

We have booked flights with Celebrity Air, for next Feb, Toronto to Hong Kong (Cathay P) direct then Singapore to Toronto, 1 stop (EVA) to return home. We booked Premium Economy for an incredibly low price of under $5000 for 2 people. When I search the price out on Cathy P to fly Prem Econ with them only, the quote for 2 px is $12,000! Using a 3rd party search engine, the price is equally high. Does anyone know how Celebrity is giving us such a good price? Is it too good to be true or is there something off about this? Also, I noted that the Celebrity price for Economy Class is actually higher then for Prem Econ. Any air experts know what’s up with all this?

I'm just wondering if there a shuttle bus that runs from the airport to cruise port in Vancouver and vis versa? If so, can you pay when you board the shuttle or bus, using a bank card or credit card? Does anyone know a current price for a taxi from the airport to the port? Also, does anyone know if the Pan Pacific Hotel still has luggage storage near the cruise port exit?

Just wondering if, since Alaskian ports are US, can we use our cell data for internet, texting and calls while on the ship docked in port? I’m trying to avoid having to purchase a plan. Do the Juneau, Ketchikan and Icy point Strait port terminals offer free WiFi? Don’t want to buy costly WiFi if we can use our US data plan somedays

Good info, thanks for posting!

Awesome David! Thank you again, I'm going to research your suggestions, they all sound great. Especially interesting is the Aqua Luna Harbor Cruise with the dining options. I was wondering about doing something like that but didn't know if these experiences were offered during the Harbor Cruise. Now I'm on it...very exciting!

We always take the spa tour and did so this time, but it was not a great tour. Actually, very little was explained to us. The guide seemed mostly interested in having us book with her specifically for a massage. We've been to lots of spas and ended up figuring out most of it on our own.

MAHDNC, this is an amazing trip review! Thank you very much for taking the time to journal your trip, it will be helpful to many planners, myself included. We are taking this trip cruise in reverse next year. However, we will only have a couple of days in Hong Kong pre cruise. Our hotel is not too far from yours, about 2 kms ( maybe about a mile or so). If you only had one or two days in Hong Kong what would you choose to do? Many of the private tours I'm looking at are quite expensive but perhaps that's the best plan. Otherwise, is it possible to stay in the general hotel area and see a few things doing a DIY plan? You may be a slave to this post for life, it's so informative and interesting!

We will be in Hong Kong 2 days pre cruise. I'd like to book a private day tour on Day 2 but it seems very expensive. Since we will be flying from Toronto I know we will probably be very tired at least the first day and even possibly the second day so maybe a day tour isn't the way to go anyway. We will probably stay at the Kowloon Shangri- La. Does anyone have any good ideas for stuff we could do or see that might be close by, maybe walking distance, or easy commute. We are usually good to walk 1-2 KMs( or about a mile) at a time, in safe areas. We like shopping, local and cultural sights, interesting landmarks, interesting restaurants. I wonder if it's hard to get to Victoria Peak, and I'm not sure what areas or sights would require a ferry transfer? If anyone had a great day or two in Hong Kong pre cruise, please share what you did.

Good information about the infrared sauna, thank you. This is the kind of information that would be helpful to have in the Spa. If there was an attendant around advising people or even an informative sign then guests would not be putting down towels to try to trap heat in the room. This kind of info should be given when they tour you around the spa. Regarding the Hammam question there is no scrub provided. It's just heavy mist. I enquired, and you can buy some there, I think the cost was about $60. When we used the NCL spa they used to give you scrubs that they made up in the spa for free when you bought a pass. Maybe that has changed now, but the $60 charge on the Ascent was crazy considering how cheap salt and sugar scrubs are to make.